/ 



WATER 



AND 



VEGETABLE DIET 



IN 



CONSUMPTION, SCROFULA, CANCER, ASTHMA, 



AND OTHER CHRONIC DISEASES. 



IN WHICH THE ADVANTAGES OF PURE SOFT WATER OVER THAT WHICH IS HARD ABK 

PARTICULARLY CONSIDERED ; TOGETHER WITH A GREAT VARIETY OV 

FACTS AND ARGUMENTS SHOWING THE SUPERIORITY OF THE 

FARINACEA AND FRUITS TO ANIMAL FOOD 

IN THE PRESERVATION OF HEALTH. 



BY WILLIAM LAMBE, M. D. 

FELLOW OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS OF LONDON. 



WITH NOTES AND ADDITIONS, 

BY JOEL SHEW, M. D. • 



NEW YORK: 
FOWLERS AND WELLS, 131 NASSAU STREET. 

LONDON : JOHN CHAPMAN, 142 STRAND 

1850. 




Entered, according to act of Congress, in the year 1849, by 

FOWLERS AND WELLS, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District of New York. 



STEREOTYPED BY 

BANER & PALMER, 
SOI William 6t., cor. of Frankfort, N. Y. 



^ 7- 39<?43 



// 



PREFACE TO THE AMERICAN EDITION. 



The work which is here presented to the American public, was 
first published in London, under date of 1815, with the title "Ad- 
ditional Reports on the Effects of a Peculiar Regimen in Cases of 
Cancer, Scrofula, Consumption, Asthma, and other Chronic Dis- 
eases." I have thought better to change this name to that of 
" Water and Vegetable Diet in Consumption, Scrofula, Cancer, 
Asthma, and other Chronic Diseases," as being more expressive of 
the true character of the work. I place consumption first in the 
list of diseases, because of its greater frequency and importance. 
The new title will, I am confident, be more apt to attract the eye 
of casual observers than the old one, which consideration is plainly 
a matter that should be looked to in this day of many books. 

I have also, in the following woik, changed many of the techni- 
cal or scientific terras to such as will be better understood by the 
generality of readers. Numerous typographical errors, and some 
other mistakes, which had crept into the London edition, I have also 
corrected. I have likewise taken the liberty of omitting many of the 
lai'ginal references of the forriier edition, references which were, 
r the most part, made either to works that are not accessible to 
. nerican readers, or to those of foreign languages, which also are 
iiol here to be obtained. By making these omissions (which I con- 
aidi3r does not at all depreciate the value of the work), it has been 
brought into a smaller space than it otherwise cou\dt have been, and 
is, as a consequence, afforded at a lower price. The notes and 
additions which 1 have made in the body of the work, will be re- 
cognized by the latter initial of my name. 

That the '* Vegetarian diet," (as it is now called in England, and 
of which there are many followers in that country,) is destined to 
do yet a vast amount of good in the prevention and cure of disease, 
in the United States, I confidently believe. I feel myself too 
thankful for the great benefit I have received by adopting it for the 
most part during a period of nine years, to remain silent on the 
subject. 

Many in this country have indeed already found great relief and, 
in not a few instances, a perfect cure, by the adoption of vegetable 



/ 



iv PREFACE TO THE AMERICAN EDITION. 

regimen. A great number have also made shipwreck of the matter, 
so to say, and have in the end gone from bad to worse, and so as a 
consequence have got no good. It is very common to find persons 
who tell us that some years ago, after they had suffered much in 
the way of indigestion, constipation, and the like, they commenced 
the vegetable regimen, and apparently at first with the most bene- 
ficial results. At length, however, they found that they grew 
worse, and that on again returning to the use of flesh meat, they 
improved. Now I think that in most of these cases there has 
been manifest error in the method of the experiment. Thus the 
individual was at first careful in regard to every thing relating to both 
quality and kind of food ; at length, however, feeling an increase 
of tone and vigor in the digestive organs, and at the same time a 
great improvement in the keenness of appetite and relish for food, 
he took, insensibly and by degrees, to overdoing in quantity ; a 
practice which it should ever be remembered is a violation of the 
most important of all dietetic rules. In the use of saccharine mat- 

. ter especially, have the " Vegetarians" committed error in the 
United States. It is far better to partake of a proper meal of 

t plain vegetables and flesh meat than to eat a variety of rich, concen- 
trated, and highly sweetened articles, as many have been in the 
habit of doing. 

" Vegetarianism"' has hitherto been presented to Americans as 

t a means of preventing rather than of curing disease. This work, 
then, brings the matter up in a new aspect. And surely any 
method, however simple it may be, which promises any relief 
whatever, in so grave maladies as those of which it treats, merits 
the candid consideration of every friend of his race. 

The perusal,of this work will lead many, doubtless, to the con- 
clusion, that if such striking benefits as are here described are to 
be gained by attention to diet alone, how much greater may we 
.not look for in combining the water-treatment with the course 
pointed out. I therefore recommend that all who make the experi- 
ment of vegetable diet, pursue at the same time a course of bathing, 
with an observance of good hygienic habits generally, such as are 
recommended in water-cure. The experiment will thus bo much 
easier borne, and its benefits rendered greater. 

JOEL SHEW. 



PREFACE TO THE LONDON EDITION. 



In offering to the public these "Additional Repoits," I fulfill the 
resolution I announced, when I published my "Reports on Cancer," 
of continuing to present to the public what I should think most in- 
teresting and important on the same subject. It will be seen that 
many of the facts, which I now bring forward, have been in my 
possession, even for a series of years ; and I have felt no small re- 
pugnance at suffering them to remain useless to myself and others. 
To withhold from society facts regarding health, is a sort of felony 
against the common rights of human nature. But I have found 
that little good is to be done by producing solitary cases. I have, 
therefore, defeiTed this publication till I could obtain a body of facts 
concurring to the same end; and w^hich, I hope, may possess some 
influence upon public opinion. I was, moreover, anxious to put the 
correctness of my assertions beyond the reach of doubt or suspicion. 
Circumstances beyond my control have forced me to consume 
much more time than such an object really required. But, having 
at length effected it, I am conscious that whatever depends upon 
myself has been now accomplished. 

The statements, which occupy the first part of these sheets, are 
drawn, for the most part, from very common sources of information ; 
and the reader, therefore, is not to look for any thing like originality 
in them. But the inferences from these statements, though suffi- 
ciently obvious, are certainly not duly impressed upon the minds of 
men. It is to these, therefore, that I would more particularly durect 
the attention of reflecting persons. 

I have purposely avoided in this work all refined reasoning about 
the nature of the matter, which, insinuating itself into the body in 
unsuspected vehicles, undermines its powers, and lays the founda- 
tion of fatal diseases. It is not that I think any thing which I have 
formerly advanced on these subjects untenable or visionary. In 
fact, the more I have considered the subject, the more have I been 
convinced of the general correctness of the opinions I have delivered. 
But several experiments which I have made are still unfinished ; 



VI PREFACE. 

Other employment, particuliiilj'^ the attention due to this publication, 
having occupied my time. When I have completed the inquiries 
in which I am engaged, I shall probably publish them in a separate 
form. This may be more useful than blending matters more strictly 
scientific with things designed for the general reader and common 
utility. 

I may take this opportunity of saying that I believe I have spokci? 
too hastily, when I said, in the following work, that in certain ve"^' 
healthy situations, " probably not a tenth part of those born," die 
before two years of age. It rather appears by bills of mortality, 
that even in those places where the general health is so good, that 
one half the born live to mature age, still the gi'eat mass of mortality 
is in very early life. This error, however, does not materially in- 
fluence the reasoning of the text. 

The testimonies, which I have received from several coiTespon- 
dents, give me the satisfaction of knowing that my former attempts 
to direct mankind to the consideration of regimen have not been 
wholly lost. Tt would have better suited with my habits of feeling, 
to have suppressed the expressions of kindness contained in some 
of them, that are merely personal. But I have thought it impro- 
per to withhold what conveys, perhaps, the most lively image of the 
sentiments of the writers. I have, therefore, given what has come 
to my hands without mutilation ; and must content myself with 
hereby returning my thanks to the writers for these marks of their 
esteem. By the facts which they have conveyed to me, they have 
conferred a considerable obligation on me ; but eventually, I believe, 
a much greater service on the public. 

W. LAMBE. 

2, King's Road, Bedford Row, 
25th March, 1815. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 



Page. 



Effects of the Author's former publications. — Erroneous estimate of Medical 
Practice. — Medicine corrupted by vulgar errors and false Philosophy. — 
The bases of Medical Theories hypothetical. — Diseases the same at all 
times. — The general doctrines of the Ancients with regard to their evi- 
dent causes. 9-21 

CHAPTER II. 

Opinions of Hippocrates concerning Food, and the use of Diluents ; that of 
Van Swieten. — General doctrine of Hippocrates on the eSects of Water. 
— Opinion of Hoffman ; of M. Cabanis. — Cullen's opinion examined. — 
Some additional considerations on Water. 21-31 

CHAPTER III. 

Is Disease essential to the nature of man ? — The locality of particular diseases, 
exemplified in remittent and intermittent Fevers. — The hypothesis of 
Linnjeus. — Contagions, Scurvy, Bronchocele, and Cretinism. — General 
Conclusions. 31-41 

CHAPTER IV. 

Mortality subject to fixed lavs^s. — Erroneous opinions on this subject. — The 

artificial nature and identity of constitutional disease. .... 41-54 

CHAPTER V. 

The power of Habit. — Diseases exasperated by a full diet. — Illustrations of the 
beneficial effects of abstemiousness. — Dr. Barwick. — Francis Pechi.— 
Wood, the miller of Billericay. — Apologie du Jeune. — Estimate of the ' 
Power of Vegetable Regimen! - 54-70 *. 

CHAPTER VI. 

The objections to vegetable food : paleness and loss of flesh ; that the feeble 
require nourishing diet ; differences of constitution ; uneasiness from 
vegetables ; that eating flesh injures only by excess ; that it is not unfavor- 
able to the intellect ; that it has been found useful in disease. — How far 
liliing justifies the practice. — Fish, milk.— The cookery of vegetables. - 70-102 t 

CHAPTER VII. 

Noxious habits of slow operation. — Erroneous statements. — Vegetable food 
necessary to a perfect organization. — It is produced in all climates habi- • 
table by man. — The natural progress of society. — The use of animal food 
a rehc of barbarous manners. 103-131 

CHAPTER VIII. 

On the use of spirituous and fermented liquors. — Spices. — Man by nature not 

a drinking animal. - • .* . * • • • •___- • - 131-140 



VIU CONTENTS. 

PART II.— CASES AND OBSERVATIONS. 

Pags. 

Case I. — Weak Eyes, Pimples of the Skin, Dyspepsy, Sick Headache, Constipa- 
tion, Depression of Spirits, and Gout. ------ 146 

Cas e II. — Disposition to Puhnonary Consumption. ----- 161 

Cas£ III. — Distortion of the Chest, Pimples of the Face, General Debility, and 

Weak Eyes. 163 

Case IV. — Disposition to Hydrocephalus and Apoplexy. - _ - - 165 

Case V. — Pulmonary Consumption. --_----- 168 

Case VI.— Asthma. 174 

Case VII.— Cough, Difficult Breathing, and General Debility. - - - - 182 

Case VUI.— Asthma, Debility, and Loss of Flesh. ------ 183 

Case IX.— Paralysis. ---- 185 

Case X. — Tumor of the Arm. - -_. i87 

Some Remarks on Scrofula. --------- 188 

Case Xf. — Scrofulous Ulcer of the Arm. ------- 195 

Case XII. — Scrofulous Ulcers of the Neck. ------- 197 

Case XIII. — Remarks on Cancer, with a Case. ------ 199 

Case XIV. — Rheumatism. — A Case. - - - - - - - -213 

Case XV. — Polypus of the Nose, with Numbness of the Limbs, Giddiness, and 

Oppression of the Head. -------- 215 

Case XVI. — Miscellaneous (From a Correspondent). - - - . - 2I6 

Case XVII. — Hypochondriasis, Headache, Indigestion, Costiveness, and Jaun- 
dice (From a Correspondent). ------- 220 

Cases XVIII., XIX., XX., and XXI. — Miscellaneous (From a Correspondent). 223 

, Case XXII. — General Debility, Mental Weakness, Sleeplessness, and Headache 

(From a Correspondent). -------- 225 

Case XXIII. — Disposition to Pulmonary Consumption. ----- 227 

Case XXIV. — Chronic Pains of the Bowels. Bloody Discharges, and Constipa- 
tion. 228 

Case XXV. — Leucorrhoea, Fluor Albos, or the Whites. ------ 229 

Case XXVI.— Feebleness of Strength. 230 

Case XXVII. — Hypochondriasis, Nervous Weakness, and Constipation. - 230 

Case XXVIII.— Difficult Urination, Falling of the Womb, and Constipation. - 231 

Case XXIX.— Cancer of the Uterus. 233 

General Dispensary — Report of the Consultation Committee. - - - 237 

Remarks on some Cases of Disease which have appeared under the Regimen. 238 

Appendix. — Vegetable Diet in Whitestown Seminary, near Utica, N. Y. - 251 

Caeeof Mr. Burdell, DentieftjOf New York. 255 



VEGETABLE DIET. 



CHAPTER I. 



Effects of the writer's former publications, — Erroneous estimate of 
Medical Practice. — Medicine corrupted by vulgar errors and false 
philosophy. — The bases of medical theories hypothetical. — Diseases the 
same at all times, — The general doctrines of the ancients with regard 
to their evident causes. 

After a silence of several years, I am at length enabled to lay 
before the public what I flatter myself will be considered to be 
a respectable body of additional evidence of the beneficial effects 
of that peculiar regimen, which I proposed for trial in cases of 
cancer, in the year 1809. Though it cannot be said that the 
principles, which I attempted to establish in the "Reports" 
which I then published, have gained the assent of any consider- 
able portion of the members of the medical profession, yet I 
have the satisfaction to know that my labors have not been 
wholly in vain. Several respectable persons, both in and out 
of the profession, have been sensible of the force of the reason- 
ing used ; some have adopted the practice advised ; and have, 
from their own experience, publicly recommended it to others : 
nor has any one ventured to contradict the facts which I ad- 
vanced ; or to assert that the conclusions drawn do not flov\^ 
legitimately from the premises established. And I know that 
many serious and reflecting persons have had their attention 
excited; have had their thoughts turned toward subjects to 
which they formerly had not paid the smallest regard ; and are 
looking forward, not Avithout interest and anxiety, to the result 
of the experiments which I have instituted. 

I am, at the same time, perfectly aware that the contempt 
and ridicule, vrith which the proposal I made was received in 
some quarters, was immeasurable. There were those who pro- 
fessed that they could not preserve their gravity when speaking 
or writing on the subject; nor were insinuations still more 
1* 



10 VEGETABLE DIET 

offensive witliheld. This, however, was no more than what I 
expected. Such is the natural homage of littleness, egotism, 
and malevolence to a zeal for truth, and the best interests of 
mankind. The man must know little of the workings of the 
human mind, who concludes that, because a proposal is ridi- 
culed, it is therefore ridiculous. Men often laugh, not because 
there is a good joke, but to conceal some other secret, and not 
very agreeable, feeling. I doubt not, that the slave merchant 
laughed heartily at the first proposal to abolish the diabolical 
traffic in human flesh ; the sot laughs, who is advised to relin- 
quish drinking ; and we are informed by Captain Cook that, 
when several of his people expressed to the inhabitants of New 
Zealand their abhorrence of the custom of eating human flesh, 
*' the savages only laughed at them." I feel confident, there- 
fore, that men of candor Avill not be too prompt to decide 
whether, in the present case, these merry gentlemen laughed 
at my expense or at their own.* 

It falls not within the scope of my immediate purpose to 
examine into the present condition of the medical art. There 
can be no doubt of its general utility, and in some degree of its 
absolute necessity in the present state and form of society. I 
can have no wish, therefore, to sink it in the estimation of man- 
kind. But having made this avowal, it is equally obvious that 
on no subject whatever has there existed greater fallacies and 
delusions, than in the estimates that have been formed of the 
efficacy of medicines, and the other practices, which form the 
estabfished routine of the art. It would be a matter of little 
difficulty to trace to the fountain-head the source of these 
erroneous opinions. But I shall content myself with the irre- 
fragable proof of the fact. 

This proof may be readily drawn from the ever-varying fash- 
ions which predominate in the administration of drugs. It is 
an observation of Lord Bacon, that " medicine is a science more 
professed than labored, and yet more labored than advanced ; 
the labor having been, in my judgment, rather in circle than in 
progression : for I find much iteration, but small addition." 
Though this remark is as well founded at the present day as 

^ So in this country, at the present day, we are often told that people 
have been made insane by the use of vegetable food, and a hundred other 
silly things too trifling to mention; as it" a man could famish on brown 
bread, potatoes, fruits, and milk, or even on brown bread and pure water 
alone. These nonsensical notions, put forth not unfrequently by men 
who, assuming to be learned, men even of the medical profession, are 
destined soon, among the thinking class, to be reckoned as belonging only 
to the delusions of the past. — S. 



IN CllKUNIO IICJEASE6. 11 

when it was made, it may be suspected to be occasioned by the 
hmits of the science, and not by any deficiency in its professors 
of activity or the spirit of research. Twenty years never elapsed 
without some new medicine or mode of treatment being pro- 
posed for some intractable complaint : great cures are pub- 
lished ; great expectations raised ; the new methods are uni- 
versally tried ; hope is followed by disappointment ; and, in the 
course of a very few years, they are abandoned and forgotten. 
In my own days, there have been the pneumatic gases ; muriate 
of barytes and muriate of lime in scrofula ; nitrous acid in syph- 
ilis ; digitalis and tobacco in dropsy ; digitalis in pulmonary 
consumption. It were easy to enlarge the catalogue. I know 
not whether the use of iron in cancer, and of the alkalis and ab- 
sorbents in scrofula, be as yet extinct ; but it is easy to antici- 
pate their fate.^'' 

I consider it not as a reproach, either to the proposers or to 
the profession at large, to have adopted, for a time, methods of 
treatment which have proved useless. But it is a pretty sure 
index of the general feeling with regard to the present state of 
medical practice. This eager research after new medicines is 
an acknowledgment that something more, if more be possible, 
ought to be done for the relief of the diseased ; it betrays a 
restlessness and uneasiness ; a consciousness, that much of the 
established practice is either useless or impotent ; that our in- 
struments are not what we wish them to be, and what we are 
taught in our schools to expect them ; and it evinces a secret 
wish — a very laudable and benevolent wish — that new and 
more successful methods should be introduced, or great im- 
provements should be made upon the old. And such, I am 
persuaded, is the feeling of those who have devoted themselves 
to the service of the sick with the hope to be of real use to 
them, Avith the view to exercise their profession with honor to 
themselves, and with benefit to the community. 

It is evident from the history of medicine, that it has, at no 
time, been established upon fixed and acknoAvledged principles ; 
such as, being founded on just experiments, or a copious induc- 
tion of facts, command the assent of all correct reasoners. This 
is the reason that its doctrines have ever been a subject of con- 

* Who does not know that medicine as much as dress has its fashions. 
Thus, for example, within a few years, for the treatment of consumption 
iodine has had its run; afterward wood-uaptha, and last of all cod liver 
oil (the expressed juice of rotten cod livers), as vile a substance as can 
be well conceived of. So, too, I might mention the rage fjr chloroform, 
which is already fast passing away. — S. 



12 VEGETABLE DIET 

tention and disputation. When the principles of a science rest 
upon firm bases, there can be no sects or parties among those 
who cultivate it. Occasional error may have crept into mathe- 
matical science ; but there are no sects of mathematicians. In 
physic, on the other hand, doctrines have been fluctuating in 
every age ; tliere have been as many sects as schools ; and at this 
moment there are almost as many opinions as practitioners. 

Medicine is both popular and scientific. Popular medicine is 
practiced in a certain degree by the whole body of the people, 
even by the rudest in the village. Hence it becomes contami- 
nated by the errors, prejudices, and superstitions of the people; 
which must extend, in a greater or less degree, to every mem- 
ber of the community. Physicians can boast no exemption 
from these prejudices. A curious example of their extent and 
power may be found in a well-known and popular work. It is 
this: When, in the year 1760, the King of Spain determined, 
by a public decree, to free Madrid from the abominable custom 
of throwing the ordure out of the windovfs into the streets, it 
was ordered by a proclamation, that the proprietor of every 
house should build a proper receptacle, and that sinks, drains, 
and common sewers should be made at the public expense. 
*' Every class," proceeds the relater, "devised some objection 
against it ; but the physicians bid the fairest to interest the 
king in the preservation of the ancient privileges of his people, 
for they remonstrated, that if the filth was not thrown into the 
streets as usual, a fatal sickness would probably ensue, because 
the putrescent particles of the air, which such filth attracted, 
would then be imbibed by the human body." 

The doctrines of scientific medicine descend from that small 
body of educated men, who give themselves up to it as a pro- 
fession and the means of a livelihood. With these men it is a 
branch of philosophical science, and it, of course, becomes tinct- 
ured with the current philosophical opinions. From hence it 
has been deformed by absurdities, that are at present hardly 
credible. Even so late as the days of our own James the First, 
we find the study of judicial astrology esteemed necessary to a 
physician. In an examination of a noted impostor by the Lon- 
don College of Physicians, we find, among other questions put 
to him, with the answers of the man, the following : 

" Being asked in astrology what house he looketh unto to know 
a disease, or the event of it : and how the Lord ascendant should 
stand thereto : 

" He answereth, he looks for the sixth house ; which being 
disproved, he saith, he understands nothing therein but what 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 13 

he hath out of Caliman ; and being asked what books he hath 
read in that art, he saith he hath none but Caliman.'' 

Philosophy was, in its origin, founded more upon speculation 
than upon observation and experiment. And as the first rea- 
soners in medicine were the philosophers, the principles that 
were thought to regulate the universe, were, by them, trans- 
ferred to the phenomena of the human body. Hence the 
errors of philosophy were engrafted upon physiology. 

Hippocrates is said to ha,ve separated medicine from philoso- 
phy. This can mean no more than that he was the first of the 
philosophers, who considered medicine to be a distinct branch 
of science. But the principles which he adopted to explain 
the causes and symptoms of diseases, were such as he had been 
taught, and found to be prevalent in the schools of philosophy 
in his time. 

These principles were purely hypothetical, being, mostly, 
gratuitous assumptions with regard to the constituent principles 
of the animal frame. The body was thought to be composed 
of four humors : blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile ; 
health was supposed to depend upon the perfect mixture of 
these humors, each possessed of its proper qualities ; disease 
took place when the due proportions were disturbed, or Avhen 
cither of the elementary humors was separated, or not perfectly 
mixed with the common mass. 

From this first rude notion of the analysis of the fluids have 
sprung the division of temperaments into the sanguineous, 
phlegmatic, choleric, and melancholic, which is received at this 
day; in each of which that humor was thought to be predom- 
inant from which it receives its denomination. 

It is clear, from many passages of the Hippocratic writings, 
that Hippocrates was not the inventor of these doctrines, but 
that they were the current opinions of his times ; and had prob- 
ably existed at a period anterior to that of any of the records 
of medicine which have reached our times. However hypo- 
thetical and ill founded are the speculations on which these 
doctrines rest, they were implicitly received by Boerhaave and his 
followers ; nor is their influence wholly extinguished at present. 

It cannot be supposed that opinions, which have no real 
foundation in nature, were at any time admitted without con- 
troversy. We find, even in the writings which are called Hip- 
pocratic, some variations from this fundamental hypothesis ; and 
otlier theories, which are wholly distinct from it. Many suc- 
ceeding teachers rejected it entirely, and proposed other sys- 
tems. Asclepiades embraced the atomic philosophy, derived 



14 VEGETABLE DIET 

from the doctrines of Democritus and Epicurus : he ascribed 
the production of diseases to the stopping up or relaxation of 
the pores. The Methodists thought that diseases Mvere not 
produced by morbid alterations of the fluids of the body, but 
considered them as aftections of the solids. They divided dis- 
eases therefore into three orders ; some they considered as caused 
by laxity ; others, as the consequence of tension ; others, again, 
as complicated, being related by some of their symptoms to each 
of the other orders. Another sect denied that diseases were 
connected with the sensible qualities of the body. They asser- 
ted that there was a subtle matter, an ether, attached to, and 
pervading the system ; and that diseases were affections of this 
matter. This sect was that of the Pneumatists. 

Opinions so discordant, as it showed the evidence in behalf 
of each to be unsatisfactor}^, must have excited, in the minds of 
many, hesitation and discontent. Accordingly, there has ever 
been a sect, which has maintained, that, in medicine, evident 
causes were the only proper objects of inquiry ; that the 
changes, which take place within the body, are mostly incom- 
prehensible, and the study of them must be therefore super- 
fluous ; and that, could they even be discovered, they would 
throw no light on the methods of treatment. The question, 
they said, is not what makes a disease, but what will cure it. 
How digestion is performed, is of no moment ; but what matter 
is most easily digestible, is of the greatest ; it matters not how 
we breathe, but to determine the purest air is of the first con- 
sequence. In things of this nature, we are instructed, not by 
abstruse speculations and metaphysical subtleties, but by evident 
experience only. This is the proper guide in medicine, distin- 
guishing the useful from the noxious, and applying them 
accordingly to practice. Such is the general reasoning of the 
sect of Empyrical physicians ; a sect, the tenets of which, 
though disclaimed in the schools, have ever found numerous ad- 
herents among men the most versed in practice ; and which, 
though not openly avowed, are, I am persuaded, silently assent- 
ed to, and effectively acted upon, by the great body of prac- 
titioners, e^'cn at this day. 

This short notice of the ancient sects demonstrates that, rit 
the origin of medicine, the causes assigned, as immediately 
operative in the production of diseases, Avere not deduced from 
experience, but were the creation of the imagination. It would 
be an unprofitable task to examine whether the doctrines of 
modern teachers have been built upon a more solid foundation. 
1 bhall therefore wholly avoid them. Those to whom they are 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 15 

familiar, will readily perceive, that the questions, which have 
exercised the ingenuity of the makers of systems, in these latter 
days, are very nearly the same as were discussed and disputed 
upon in the schools of antiquity ; and that our modern sects are 
little more than the ancient, revived under new names. Nor 
will it be disputed, that no theory, which has been proposed, 
has had more than an ephemeral reputation ; nor has contributed, 
hardly in the most remote degree, to the only rational object of 
speculation — the improvement of practice, and the consequent 
amelioration of social life. 

It is perfectly clear, however, that hinnan nature has been, 
and is, at all times, essentially the same. History depicts the 
same passions ; the same motives of action ; the same virtues 
and vices, adorning or darkening the human character ; and the 
records of medicine show that the human body has been at all 
times (within the reach of written memorials) subject to the 
same diseases. With the exception of a few contagions (the 
effect, perhaps, of some accidental combination of circum- 
stances), it may be doubted whether there exists any new dis- 
ease. In the Hippocratic writings we meet with, not merely 
the same names of diseases, as those employed at this day, but, 
generally speaking, the same names applied to the same things; 
we meet with the same order and succession of events ; the same 
accidents; the same signs, whether announcing safety or por- 
tending danger ; the same divisions of diseases ; in a w^ord, as 
far as we can judge, the very same scene, which is at this time 
daily passing before the eyes of medical practitioners. It is, 
indeed, the perception of this striking analogy which has im- 
pressed upon these memorials the indelible character of authen- 
ticity ; we feel for them a veneration like that excited by the 
works of Homer, being assured by our present experience that 
they are faithful transcripts from nature, taken at a period of 
very remote antiquity. As this is a fact of the first consequence 
in the history of human nature, I shall cite in illustration of it 
the account of a very common affection, as it is described in one 
of these ancient treatises. The disease I shall select is the com; 
mon catarrh, or cold, of which the following description is found 
in the treatise on ancient medicine. 

" Whenever any one is afiected with a cold, and defluxion from 
the nose, the matter is commonly more acriaionious durino- the 
first days of descent from the nostril, and it makes the'nose 
swell, and it heats and inliames it; if, w^hen it has continued 
some tiaif, you apply the hand to the part, it will be found ex- 
coriated, though it be naturally hard, and of little vascularity\ 



16 VEGETABLE DIET 

This heat in the nostrils begins to diminish, not while the mat- 
ter is flowing, and the inflammation continues, but when the 
matter has become thicker and less acrid, more concocted and 
mingled than at first ; then it is that the heat ceases." — De 
veterl Mcdicina, xxxi. 

Here we have an example of the slightest of all inflammatory 
complaints, which we find to have been attended v/ith the same 
symptoms as the common cold, or catarrh, of the present day. 

Cancer is allowed to be the most calamitous of all diseases 
which afllict the human frame. I do not know that any regu- 
lar description of this malady is to be found in the Hippocratic 
writings ; but there are notices of it, which are sufficiently dis- 
tinct, and which aflbrd grounds for believing that it was well 
known at the era of these writings, and that the symptoms of 
it were essentially the same as at present. In one of the books 
of the Epidemics, the following short naiTative occurs. 

" A v.oman of Abdera had a cancer of the breast; it was 
of this nature : a bloody ichor came out of the nipple ; when 
the discharge ceased, she died." — Popularium, vii. 50. 

As then we find noticed, in the earliest records of medicine, 
the shghtest of the acute, and the most severe of the chronic 
diseases, which men at present sufler, we cannot doubt that 
they were at this time subject to all the common forms of dis- 
ease which are found existing at present. Of most of them it 
were easy to bring direct proof, if it were worth while. But 
I am unwilling to fatigue the patience of my reader by aflect- 
ing to prove points which no one is likely to controvert. 

How happens it then, that, while opinions have been so 
unsettled, and in a state of perpetual fluctuation, nature has 
been so uniform, and continues unchanged? The same phe- 
nomena have been occurring during a succession of ages with 
the same regularity as the rotation of the seasons, or the flux 
and reflux of the ocean. What can have produced this regu- 
larity, but the unceasing operation of regular and uniform 
causes ? 

On these subjects I have already delivered my opinions in 
•vvGl'ks which have been some time before the pubhc, and have 
adduc(^cl many facts in corroboration of those opinions. I have 
maintained "^hat, while the predisposition to the various forms 
of diseased action is congenital, and dependent upon varieties 
in the radical organization of the frame, the more direct causes 
are to be looked for in the agency e^ foreign substances on the 
body, and principally of those which are used as food and as 
drink. From an adherence to those opinions I have not seen 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 17 

any reason, after more mature reflection and more extended 
experience, to recede. On the contrary, I hope that the facts 
which I am about to bring forward in the course of my present 
undertaking will go far toward establishing them beyond con- 
troversy. 

I might continue to rest the proof of them upon the phe- 
nomena of the cancer, as my observations on that disease have 
been confirmed both by myself and others, since the publica- 
tion of my "Reports" on that subject. Persons of very nar- 
row information are ready to allow that any manner of living, 
which is found useful in the cancer, would probably be bene- 
ficial in other chronic diseases hkewise ; and that it would afford 
a satisfactory proof of the general superior salubrity of the pro- 
posed method. But as the prejudices of mankind are deeply 
rooted and widely extended, and the views, that different in- 
dividuals take of the same subject, are infinitely various from 
the education, habits of thinking, or capacities of each, I have 
thought it may be useful to take a wider circuit. I have there- 
fore thrown together such materials as appeared to me con- 
nected w^ith the end I had in view. They will serve, I hope 
not inaptly, as an introduction to the cases which it is my prin- 
cipal object to relate, and will perhaps prepare the mind, in 
some degree, for the conclusions I propose to draw, by show- 
ing that the opinions which I have adopted may be supported 
by many collateral facts, and are by no means at variance with 
those of men of the most respectable authority. 

It is surely in favor of these opinions, in general, that they 
are fundamentally in unison with the plain, unsophisticated, 
common sense of mankind. Though hardly an}'^ two men agree 
wnth regard to the salubrity of particular things, yet all are 
convinced of the general importance of the subject. That our 
diseases have an intimate connection wdth our habits, is allowed 
by all who have ever paid any attention to the subject. Some 
facts are so flagrant, that they force themselves upon the most 
heedless. Does any one dispute that luxury and intemperance 
enervate the mind, and destroy the body ? that there is an essen- 
tial difference between the peasant of the country and the arti- 
san of the city? that, to possess a hardy and healthy body, it 
is necessary to adopt hardy and healthy modes of life ? The 
influence of some customs becomes evidently imprinted on the 
features, and gives a character to the form and physiognomy. 
Who can mistake the lineaments of habitual drunkenness ? The 
first questions, put by the valetudinarian to his medical adviser, 
are — Is this wholesome ? is that wholesome ? and, how ought 



18 VEGETABLE DIET 

I to regulate my diet? Though on no subject whatever do 
there exist more deep prejudices, and, as I think, more per- 
nicious errors, there are none concerning which many indi- 
viduals are more seriously engaged in searching after the truth. 

The venerable authority of the father of medicine may be 
adduced in support of the same doctrine ; external causes being 
acknowledged by Hippocrates to have the greatest influence 
upon health and disease. He attributed much to the air ; and 
on this subject he entertained ideas which were sufficiently 
correct. The spreading of epidemic diseases he attributed to 
the operation of some morbific exhalation, or miasma, corrupt- 
ing the atmosphere. Sleeping and watchfulness ; exercise and 
repose ; the matters secreted, or retained within the body ; and 
the dominion of the passions, w^ere severally enumerated by this 
ancient philosopher as powerful agents upon the human frame. 
Regimen, in the most extensive sense of the word, includes the 
totaUty of these agents. 

Hippocrates considered man to be, as the plants and animals 
by which he is surrounded, a product of the soil upon which 
he grows, and as having his qualities modified by the circum- 
stances in which he is placed. He observed that nations had, 
like individuals, their characteristic physiognomy ; and he taught 
that the forms and manners of men must be consonant to the , 
character of the country which they inhabit. In support of 
this doctrine, he contrasted the Asiatics with the Europeans. 
His words are : "1 say that there is a great difference between 
Asia and Europe, both with regard to the productions of the 
soil, and also the men. All the productions of Asia are more 
beautiful, and of a larger growth ; for the climate is much 
milder than ours, and the manners of the natives more kind 
and cultivated. The cause of these phenomena is the consti- 
tution of the seasons ; for Asia is placed toward the rising of 
the sun, removed from the cold. This, of all circumstances, 
tends to produce increase and mildness, since there is no pre- 
dominant power to divert the course of nature, but an equality 
offeree is prevalent throughout. 

"This is not the case, however, throughout the whole of 
Asia : the inland parts, w^hicli are equally remote from the heat 
and the cold, are the most fertile, the best wooded, the finest, 
and watered the best by the rains or by rivulets. Thus it is 
neither burnt up by the heat, nor dried up from want of water, 
nor condensed by the cold ; but it is fanned by southerly winds, 
and moistened both by rains and snow. Hence (as might be 
expected) the plants are abundant, whether raised by man, or 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 19 

growing spontaneously : upon the fruits of wliicli the inhabit- 
ants subsist, improving them by culture and transplantation. 
The cattle will be of a larger growth, more prolific, and the 
offspring more beautiful. The men are well nourished, of the 
finest forms, and the largest stature, and with little individual 
differences in these respects." 

The Europeans, on the other hand, are depicted by Hippo- 
crates as differing much more among themselves, both in their 
stature and form ; which he attributes to their variable climate, 
exposed to great vicissitudes of heat and cold, of rains and 
droughts, and the inconstancy of the winds ; from the co- 
operation of which the body is exposed to perpetual changes. 
These ch'cumstances would undoubtedly produce a more robust 
frame, greater energy and activity, and a more adventurous 
spirit. But Hippocrates was perfectly aware of the powerful 
effect of political institutions upon the moral character. While, 
therefore, he attributes, in some degree, to the relaxing effects 
of the climate the timidity, effeminacy, and unwarlike spirit of 
the Asiatics, as compared to the Europeans, he ascribes still 
more to their institutions. "Almost all Asia," he says, *'is 
under the dominion of absolute monarchs ; a condition which, 
by necessity, engenders cunning, selfishness, and pusillanimity : 
the Europeans, on the other hand, possess liberty and property, 
living under the safeguard of laws ; which produces a character 
marked by boldness, pride, and independence." 

I cannot resist the temptation of quoting another of the ex- 
amples by which this great man has ilkistrated the principles 
he has inculcated. It is taken from the same treatise from 
which the foregoing remarks have been extracted, a treatise 
which has been justly esteemed one of the most precious relics 
of antiquity. It seems to have furnished to the author of the 
*' Spirit of Laws " the basis on which he raised the superstruc- 
ture of his immortal work. 

" I will add a few words concernino- the inhabitants of the 
Phasis. Their country is marshy, w^arm, and thick-set ; much 
rain falls during every season. The inhabitants live in the 
marshes, having houses made of wood, or of reeds, constructed 
among the waters ; so they walk very little, except when they 
go to the city and market ; but they sail up and down in boats, 
made out of a single piece of wood. There are many ditches ; 
and they drink hot and stagnant waters, putrefied by the sun, 
and increased by the rain. The Phasis itself is, of all rivers, 
one whose course is the most sluo-o-ish. All the fruits of the 
country nre unwholesome, without strength, and crude, from 



20 VEGETABLE DIET 

the superabundance of water ; nor do they ever ripen. Many- 
fogs from the waters cover the face of the country. 

" For these causes, the inhabitants of the Phasis are, in their 
appearance, different from other men. Their size is large, their 
bodies corpulent; the joints of their limbs are not visible, nor 
the veins ; their color is pallid, as if suffering under jaundice ; 
they speak the slowest of all men, living in a dull, obscure, and 
moist atmosphere ; and they are in their bodies slothful, and 
unfit for labor.* 

This is, perhaps, an extreme case ; but there is strong inter- 
nal evidence that the description is, in its principal features, 
taken from nature. The same causes, at this day, produce 
similar effects ; as is experienced in our hundreds of Essex ; in 
Walcheren, Beveland, and in Zealand — a country -which is sur- 
rounded by the oozy and slim)'' branches of the eastern and 
"western Scheld. The mass of the people are, in such situa- 
tions, unhealthy, dull, bloated, and leucophlegmatic. 

Nor is any truth more fully acknowledged by those "who 
have taken an extended survey of human nature, than that the 
various races of men have their specific and characteristic forms ; 
so that the exprienced eye can pronounce, from simple inspec- 
tion, the race or country to v.-hich an}^ individual belongs. 
Philosophers may not have determined, Avith perfect exactness, 
all the circumstances which modify the system, and impress 
upon it its peculiarities. Some of them, perhaps, have, as yet, 
eluded their research. That climate, including, in the term, all 
the circumstances peculiar to each particular situation, is of 
great efficacy, has never been doubted. The changes vrhich 
are produced in the frame, either by an animal being brought 
up in a particular spot, or by its being transplanted to it, are 
not confined to the human race : the brutes equally partake of 
them ; they affect alike the whole animated creation. 

* The people described by Hippocrates ia this passage, were those 
who inhabited the modern Mingrelia. According to the relation of an 
Itahan traveler, there is a great similitude between the present and the 
ancient inhabitants. He says of them, " Very few of them reach a sound 
old age. Disease of the spleen is universal, which, not being treated 
with proper remedies in time, aUvays tei-minates in dropsy. The tertian 
and quartan ague is so familiar, that, esteeming them nothing at ail, even 
in the time of the paroxysm, the people follow their usual occupations. 
In the autumn, the quotidian is a universal malady. Catarrh and asthma 
are apt to suffocate men of mature years ; jaundice and lethargy prove fatal 
to others." — Lamberti, Relatione della Colchide, oggi della Mengrcllia 
cap. 27, p. 193, 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES 21 



CHAPTER 11. 

Opiuiuns of Hippocrates concerning Food, and the use of Diluents; that 
of Van Swieten. — General doctrine of Hippocrates on the effects of 
Water. Opinion of Hoffman ; of M. Cabanis.^ — Cullen's opinion ex 
amined. — Some additional considerations on Water. 

Such was the general doctrine of Hippocrates on the ante- 
cedent causes of health and disease, and those things which 
principally affect and modify the human system. But of all 
the circumstances, the influence of which it is necessary to ap- 
preciate, Hippocrates considered diet as by far the most impor- 
tant; and, imder this term, he included all the matters used in 
the ordinary manner of living, namely, food, whether fish, flesh, 
milk, or vegetables; vrine, and other fermented liquors; and 
water. He has declared in general, with regard to the quali- 
ties of food — " Whoever gives these things no consideration, 
and is ignorant of them, how can he understand the diseases 
of men ? for, by every one of these, the body is affected and 
changed, either in one manner or in another ; and of these is 
the whole of life composed, in health, in convalescence, and in 
sickness." Another passage of the same writer is still more 
direct and express, and indicates, in my opinion, a wonderful 
sagacity in the writer, considering the time at vdiich it was 
written. In treating of the generation of anasarca, he suggests 
that the foundation of the disease is laid in a tuberculated state 
of the lungs. To prove this, he refers to the same condition 
of the lungs in domesticated animals : the ox, the dog, and the 
sow. In these quadrupeds, he says, tubercles full of water are 
formed in the lungs : they are readily found by dissection. 
And he adds — " Such things are much more hkely to happen 
in man than in animals, inasmuch as we use a more unwhole- 
some diet."* 

* Hippocrates, Lib. De Internis AfTectionibus, xxv. Hippocrates had 
probably seen hydatids: he says, " the water will flow out;" which is 
cot true of the common tubercle. 

An ingenious writer, speaking of domestic aniinals, observes, " The 
diseases of domestic animals are interesting, inasmuch as they show the 
power of unnatural food and habits to cause a variety of disorders, and 
confirm the opinion that human diseases are chiefly referable to the same 
cause. In dissecting tame animals, I have frequently found ossifications 
of the soft parts and pi'eternatural tumors; but I never remember to have 
found any marks of organic disease in those which might be pi'operly 
called wild." — Forster on Spirituous and Fermented Liquors, p. 50. 

It may be doubted whether wild animals, living strictly according to 
their natural habits, suffer any constitutional disease ; but the question 



22 VEGETABLE DIET 

Many other passages might be cited, if it were necessary, 
from the Hippocratic writings to the same purpose. Accord- 
ingly we find that the most essential part of the treatment of 
diseases, prescribed by the father of medicine, consisted of iiiles 
concerning diet and regimen. The use of medicines was second- 
ary and subsidiary. Several treatises on these subjects have 
come down to us, than which I do not know that the works of 
modern writers on the same topics contain any thing more use- 
ful or more correct. 

On the use of watery fluids in the treatment of diseases, the 
opinion of Hippocrates was greatly at variance with modern 
practice. "VVe urge the sick to dilute plentifully; and there 
was a time when physicians expected extraordinary benefits 
to result from attenuating the fluids by the copious use of 
liquids, the basis of which was common water. But the doc- 
trine of Hippocrates was, that a copious use of such fluids 
causes " an efteminacy of the fibres, impotence of the nerves, 
stupor of the mind, hemorrhages, and faintings." In another 
place he says, concerning the use of water in acute diseases, 
" I have nothing to say in favor of water drinking in acute 
diseases : it neither eases the cough, nor promotes expectora- 
tion in inflammation of the lungs ; and, least of all, in those who 
are used to it. It does not quench thirst, but increases it. In 
bilious habits it increases bile, and oppresses the stomach ; and 
is the most pernicious, and sickening, and debilitating, in a state 

cannot he easily determined. It is obvious, however, that those become 
most diseased, v^^hich recede the farthest from their natural habits of life. 
The common rat is naturally herbivorous. Mr. Law^rence, assistant-sur- 
geon of St. Bartholomew's Hospital, informed me, that they have at the 
hospital a tribe of rats, which feed principally on the offals of the dissect 
ing-room. These animals are very large ; but, commonly, the liver is 
found diseased. 

The common dog shows the effect of unnatural aliment in a very strik- 
ing manner. This animal, by being confined to vegetable food, loses all 
the social qualities which has made him the companion of men, his fidelity, 
attachment, and sagacity. The naturalist who accompanied Captain Cook 
in his second voyage, remarks, " The dogs of the South Sea Isles are of a 
singular race : they most resemble the common cur, but have a prodigious 
large head, remarkably little eyes, prick ears, and a short bushy tail. 
They are cliiefly fed with fruit at the Society Isles, but in the Low Isles 
and New Zealand, where they are the only domestic animals, they live 
upon fish. They are exceedingly stupid, and seldom or never bark, oniy 
howl now and then ; they have the sense of smelling in a very low degree, 
and are lazy beyond measure ; they are kept by the natives chiefly for 
the sake of their flesh." — Foster s Observatioyis, p. 189. 

Captain King's account of the dogs of the Sandwich Islands is to the 
same purpose. — >S^ee CooWs Third Voyage, vol. 3, p. 118, ito. 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 23 

of inanition. It increases inflammations of the liver and spleen. 
It passes slowly, by reason of its coldness and crudeness ; and 
does not readily find a passage either by the bowels or kid- 
ney."^ In conformity to these observations, the respectable 
Van Swieten observes, " While girls are daily sipping tepid, 
watery liquors, how weak and how flaccid do they become !" 
And the same writer positively affirms that, by the abuse of 
tea, coff'ee, and similar liquors, he had seen many so enervate 
their bodies, that they could scarcely drag their limbs ; and 
many had from this cause been seized with apoplexies and 
palsies.f 

That our common domestic waters possess different qualities, 
according to their various natures, and, in consequence, have 
different degrees of salubrity, is consonant to popular opinion. 
Indeed, this a persuasion so widely disseminated, as to afford 
reasonable ground for believing it the result of experience. I 
pervades remote regions, and people unconnected by prejudices, 
religion, manners, or education. " The old men of Brazil," 
according to Piso, "are as nice in their choice of waters, as 
people are with us in distinguishing the qualities of wine ; and 
they accuse persons of imprudence who use them all without 
selection. They use the lightest and sweetest, and those which, 
falling from elevated grounds, give no sediment." Sir G. 
Staunton informs us, that "persons of rank in China are so 

* If Hippocrates meant that the copious use of pure soft water causes 
" an effeminacy of the fibres, impotence of the nerves, stupor of the mind, 
hemorrhages, and fainting;" and if he regai'ded, that such water was 
"not good in acute diseases;'' "that it neither eases the cough nor pro- 
motes expectoration in inflammations of the hings;" "that it does not 
quench thirst but increases it ; " " that in bihous habits it increases bile, 
and oppresses the stomach, and is the most pernicious, sickening,, and 
debihtating in a state of inanition;'' and, that "it increases inflammation 
of the hver and spleen," lie was evidently mistaken, as is abundantly 
proved by the success of the modern water-cure. If the objections were 
etated against the use of hard and impure water, they would have some 
force, but not otherwise. There is no danger whatever in allowing per- 
sons the freest use of pure soft water, however cold, in acute diseases, 
a]tht)Ugh in some cases \varm is probably the best. — S. 

t That people generally injure themselves in many respects by the 
use of tea and coffee, it is easy enough to understand. Nervousness, 
tremors, palpitation of the heart, indigestion, paleness, and flaccidity of the 
muscular system, sallowness, decay of the teeth, and especially sick head- 
ache, are often caused by these articles, as many may prove to their satis- 
faction, if they will but resolutely abstain from them, and take only pure 
soft water instead, for one year. But that people will injure themselves 
with " tepid waters ;" drink which has in its composition nothing stronger 
than pure water, we need not at all fear. The stimulants contained, and 
not the water, cause the evils alluded to in the text. — S. 



24 VEGETABLE DIET 

careful about the quality of the water intended for their own 
consumption, that they seldom drink any without its being dis- 
tilled." In Egypt, they prefer the water of the Nile. The 
gravel is said to be " universally the disease vf ith those who 
use water from the draw-wells, as in the desert. In Hindostan, 
people universally ascribe most of their disorders to the offen- 
sive quality of bad water. It is useless to multiply authorities. 
Even in London, though it is not, in general, considered to be 
of so much importance, the selection of waters is considerably* 
attended to : men have their favorite spring, or their favorite 
pump ; and they think that some waters are more favorable to 
the health than others.^ 

I have little doubt that popular observations of this kind, in 
ancient times, laid the foundation of the doctrines of the cele- 
brated treatise of Hippocrates, de Aere, Aquis, et Locis ; and 
though some of the distinctions, found in that treatise, may 
have been founded upon local circumstances, and have been too 
hastily generalized, yet their accuracy upon the whole has been 
so little questioned, that succeeding writers have added nothing 
of importance to them. 

Though Hippocrates has said, that healthy persons may 
drink, indiscriminatel}^ such water as comes in their way, yet 
he declares that, to distinguish that which is wholesome is of 
the first consequence to health. The best waters he pronoun- 
ces to be those which fall from high places, and uncultivated 
hills. He condemns water collected from the melting of snow,f 

* After the Croton water (which is on the whole very good, and far 
superior to the fihhy water of the wells, that had formerly been used,) 
had been introduced into the city of New York about two years, accord- 
ing to present recollection, the officers of the City Hospital published that 
there had been no cases of gravel admitted into that institution since the 
time when the Croton water had fairly come into use, but that before the 
complaint was frequent. — S. 

+ The writer, residing at Cos, could probably know nothing, from ex- 
perience, on the properties of snow-water ; and spoke therefore only from 
report. The report itself was, I conceive, grounded upon supposing the 
watei's of the valleys of alpine countries to be snow-water. 

Though the putrescent matter of common water cannot be separated 
from the earths or other matters which are dissolved in the water, its 
presence is very easily shown. If there be any thing inflammable in 
the residuum left by the water after evaporation, it indicates the presence 
of matter of this kind. This impregnation of common water, though 
little regarded, by modern chemists, has been long known. Borrichius 
observed the residuum of common w^ater to be inflammable ; that it melted 
with bubbles, swelled, took fire, and burned with a clear white flame. 
Lucas, in his treatise on waters, remarked the inflammability of the resi- 
duum both of the Thames and New River water, and also of some 
others. This matter it is which makes water corrupt by keeping ; which, 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 25 

in "whicli he was guided, probably, by popular prejudice. Even 
rain-water lie advises to be boiled and filtered ; otherwise it has 

I believe, always happens in warm weather, if it be in a considerable 
body. 

The method which I have commonly employed to determine the pres- 
ence of inflammable matter, is to precipitate the water by a salt of lead 
(the acetate, or nitrate of lead), and to heat the precipitate, either alone, 
or mixed only with an alkali. If lead is by this process revived, the pre- 
cipitate must, in part, consist of an inflammable substance. And by this 
, simple method I have detected matter of this kind in every common 
water I have examined, except two. One of these w^as the water of the 
Bristol Hot Wells, a water which is known to be very light upon the 
stomach, though it is a good deal loaded with earthy salts. 

To this inflajnmable and putrescent matter is owing the activity of com- 
mon water, of which persons almost constantly receive proofs, whenever 
they change their residence. Yet it is astonishing (as 1 have said in the 
text) how much it has been overlooked. Dr. Lind, for example, says, 
that as the guinea-worm, which seems peculiar to Africa and some parts of 
Asia, " has been supposed to proceed from a bad quality of the water of 
the country, I procured the waters of Senegal, Gambia, and Sierra Leone 
to be sent me in bottles, well corked and sealed, in order to examine 
their contents. Upon opening these bottles, I found the water in all of 
them putrid, but the scent of the Senegal water was the strongest and 
most offensive. I could not, however, discover by the help of a good mi- 
croscope the least appearance of any of the animalcules, nor did any 
chemical experiment discover uncommon contents or impurities in those 
waters. All of them, after standing some time exposed to the open air, 
become perfectly sweet and good." — LincVs Works, vol. Hi., p. 56. 

Here we see that Dr. Lind (a man of much intelligence) thought there 
was nothing amiss with these waters, though they were absolutely foetid. 
And most writers have conceived with him, that all that was necessary 
to make water salubrious was to get rid of any offensive odor or taste. 
It is, however, perfectly obvious that if water is capable of putrefaction, 
it must contain a putrescent matter, even before it putrefies, and when it 
is esteemed to be perfectly sweet and good. What is the effect of this 
matter upon the human system is a proper object of inquiry, and what I 
have attempted to ascertain experimentally. 

I have argued for the universal diff'usion on the surface of the earth, and 
throughout the soil, and, in consequence, in the substance of animal and 
vegetable bodies, of a true arsenical matter. I have said that some sub- 
stances may combine so intimately with this poison as to prevent its being 
developed and exhibited in its proper form by the common mudes of 
chemical operation. iManganese is one body which has iliis effect. But 
it is not the only one. In this point of view, therefore, the explication I 
proposed in my *' Inquiry into Constitutional Diseases" (printed in 1805) 
is too limited. But ulterior inquiries have shown to me that the nature of 
arsenic itself is misunderstood, and its properties very imperfectly known. 
It can be very easily shown that it is a decomposable matter, and possessed 
of different properties, as it is obtained from different substances. What 
I have been able to ascertain myself with regard to this body, I hope, ere 
long, to be able to lay before the public ; and I believe the experiments 
I propose to relate, will at least make an opening for obtaining an insight 
into some of the phenomena of nature, whicli have hitherto been involved 
in obscurity. 

2 



26 VEGETABLE DIET 

a bad smell, and occasions hoarseness in those who use it 
Hard and crude waters are not adapted to all habits, since they 
constringe and bind the belly. In countries where men are con- 
strained to drink the stagnant and foetid waters of wells, the 
belly and spleen must, in such persons, of necessity be injured. 
Some have calculus complaints ; some, tumors of the spleen, 
strangury, and nephritic complaints, from a similar cause. The 
stagnant water of marshes must, in summer, be hot, and muddy, 
and ill-scented. Persons who drink them have the spleen en- 
larged, and the belly swollen. A train of evils is the conse- 
quence of the use of such waters : marasmas, dropsies, fluxes, 
agues, peripneumonies, insanity, and abortions. Such waters 
are wholly unfit for use. 

The general doctrine of this venerable and philosophic wri- 
ter, as to the agents which have the greatest influence upon the 
frame, he has summed up, in a manner equally decisive and con- 
cise, in the following paragraph. 

" The variations of the seasons are the most powerful causes 
of the diff"erent natures of men. Next to these is the quality 
of the soil on which they subsist, and the waters they use. It 
is certain, that commonly both the physical and moral consti- 
tution of man is conformable to the nature of the soil on 
which he hves." 

It cannot be doubted, that this doctrine is fundamentally 
conformable to nature. As I have already said, the assertions 
of succeeding writers, on the noxious effects of impure waters, 
are so strictly coincident with those of Hippocrates, that they 
would seem almost to be transcribed from them. Thus, the 
celebrated Hoff"man writes : " Water is the most proper bever- 
age for all animals ; but care must be taken to use none that 
is hard, tophaceous, and heavy ; since these kinds, from their 
passing with difficulty, and easily stagnating in the minute pas- 
sages, are favorable to the generation of calculus, and to visce- 
ral obstructions. It has been often observed, that the drinking 
of hard and rough water has been pernicious both to men and 
animals ; of which persons engaged in military service have 
given striking examples. Hard waters are most injurious to the 
viscera, and, in particular, to the spleen, as being very vascular ; 
and, by stagnating in its small vessels, the whole gland is easily 
raised into a large tumor. It has been constantly asserted, 
that scrofulous tumors, of a great magnitude, are indigenous, 
from the use of hard and rough waters, in certain mountainous 
tracts where such springs abound. But the stagnant, putrid 
waters of marshes are chiefly to be avoided, which not only 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 27 

corrupt the air, by depraved and pestilential exhalations, but 
are likeAvise capable of producing putrid diseases and fevers." 

Many other authorities might be cited to the same purpose ; 
since, in fact, there is hardly any physician of eminence, ancient 
or modern, with the exception of Cullen, who has not been sen- 
sible of the great influence of this element upon the animal 
economy. I do not think necessary to trouble my readers with 
numerous quotations from authors on this subject. I have my- 
self little to add, in the way of reasoning, to what I have al- 
ready laid before the public, in my ** Inquiry into the Origin 
of Constitutional Diseases." Those who wish to be informed 
of the opinions of many other writers, I refer to Mr. Newton's 
publication, which he has entitled the " Return to Nature," in 
which he has brought together several very respectable autho- 
rities. Many others might be added to the list. As, however, 
1 have seen it insinuated, that these are no more than anti- 
quated notions, which have received no confirmation from the 
more accurate investigations of modern inquirers, and which 
have vanished before the correctness and precision of modern 
pathologists, I shall, in this place, introduce the sentiments of 
an enlightened French Vv^riter, the second edition of whose work 
(that which is before me) was published in 1805, the year in 
which I published my own " Inquiry." This writer is M. 
Cabanis, who says : 

"Brackish waters, loaded with putrid vegetable matters, 
■with earthy substances, or a considerable quaatity of sulphate 
of lime, act in a very pernicious manner on the stomach and the 
other organs of digestion. The use of them produces different 
kinds of disease, both acute and chronic ; all of them accom- 
panied by a remarkable state of atony, and a great debility of 
the nervous system. Now, this atony or this debility is in its 
turn characterized by tormenting vaporous aflfections, which 
keep the mind in a continual state of agitation and lowness ; or 
by an annihilation, almost absolute, of the functions, by a per- 
fect state of imbecihty. The waters called hard and crude, 
that is to sa}?- those wdiich hold in solution a large quantity of 
sulphate of lime, and a small proportional quantity of oxygen, 
or rather of atmospheric air, make the deploi^able enervation of 
the stomach and intestines pass with rapidity to the glandular 
system and the absorbent vessels ; they load the glands, alter 
the lymph, and obstruct the different absorptions. From the 
obstruction of the glands, and the vitiation of the lymph, arise 
maladies, the effect of which is sometimes, I confess, to aug- 
ment the activity of th 3 brain, but most frequently to diminish 



28 VEGETABLE DIET 

it; maladies Avliich may terminate by leaving it hardly that 
feeble degree of action, which is indispensable to carry on the 
vital motions. From the defect of the different absorptions 
follow new alterations of the organs and the faculties, which all 
tend to degrade, more and more, the tone of the fibres, and the 
vitality of the nervous system. These effects are the limit of 
those which can be produced by the use of hard and crude 
waters ; and, to produce them completely, requires probably 
the concurrence of some other circumstances, which have not 
hitherto been determined with sufficient exactness. But when 
the disorders produced by the stricture of the absorbent sys- 
tem are characterized in a more feeble manner, and are confined 
to an obstinate obstruction of the different abdominal viscera, 
the result still is hypochondriacal and melancholic affections, 
the moral effects of which are sufficiently well known." 

Again, the same writer observes : 

"According to observations the most constant, we know that 
hard and crude waters can cause lymphatic obstructions ; that 
stagnant and vapid waters blunt the sensibilit}^, enervate the 
muscular force, and dispose to all cold and slow diseases. It is 
equally well known, that in many countries, otherwise fertile 
and rich, the inhabitants are forced to use these unAvholesomc 
waters. The incommodities which they produce, quickly ex- 
tend their action to every point of the system ; the languor 
speedily passes from the org-ans to the ideas ; to the inclina- 
tions ; in a word, to the morals. This influence then evidently 
depends upon local circumstances." 

Cullen, we know, has maintained an opposite opinion ; the 
arguments which could divert so penetrating a mind from the 
perception of the truth cannot but merit consideration ; to 
weigh their force will serve to give us a clearer insight into 
the subject I have undertaken to treat. 

" I lived," says he, " for many years in a large city, in -which 
the Avaters very universally employed were very hard ; and, 
although softer waters were within their reach, the most part 
of the people used only the hard. But among this people I 
found no endemic diseases ; and at least none that I could im- 
pute to the water they drank ; and certainly none that I did 
not find as frequent in a city Avhich I also practiced in for many 
years, whose inhabitants very universally used no other than a 
very soft water." 

This reasoning involves two suppositions, neither of which 
appear to be well founded. 1st. It presumes that the bad 
effects of water on the body are in consequence of its hardness, 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 29 

and in proportion to that quality. But the hardness of waters 
is communicated by the earthy salts ; "whereas it is the pu- 
trescent matter which is the most noxious principle of common 
wat-er. This putrescent matter may be more abundant in soft 
waters than in hard ; as is the case in the New Pdver water, 
and still more in Thames water. 2dly. Dr. CuUen appears to 
have looked for some peculiar endemic diseases to be produced 
by the use of impure water ; and, not finding any, to have con- 
cluded that the accusations against it are ill founded. But the 
real question is. What share does it bear in the production, not 
of any peculiar endemics, but of the common diseases which 
are infused throughout the community : a question, I appre- 
hend, to be answered only by extensive observation, or by di- 
rect and appropriate experiments. 

On this head I shall add but one or two observations to those 
which I have already offered in the work to which I have 
above referred. It is a matter of common experience that 
water, according to its different qualities, affects the stomach 
with a peculiar feeling, which we call weight ; that the purest 
water feels the hghtest ; and what is reckoned, and, I beheve, 
justly reckoned, the worst, feels the heaviest on the stomach. 
In healthy persons this sensation is little regarded ; but in dis- 
ease it becomes very distinct, and is often very tormenting. 
Sometimes the stomach feels as if it would burst ; sometimes 
the sensation is as if a cord were tied round the middle of the 
body. In another place I have cited an example of this sen- 
sation being removed by the use of pure water. 

Now it is impossible that this sense of weight and oppression 
can be caused by the mere difference of specific gravity be- 
tween waters of different qualities. This is too trifling to be 
felt ; and substances specifically heavier than these waters, solids 
for example, or even fluid mercury, may be received into the 
stomach, without occasioning any sensation of weight in the 
organ. This must be deemed therefore to be a sensation sui 
generis, the specific effect of the putrescent matter, or what I 
have termed the Septic Poison of the water ; and it is probably 
complicated of the sensation resulting from the irritation of the 
mucous surface of the stomach, and that attached to the atony 
of the muscular fibres, yielding to the air developed by an im- 
perfect digestion, and, at the same time, resisting the divellent 
force. Here then we have the direct proof of the pernicious 
effect of this matter upon the living fibre ; and there can be no 
difficulty in believing that the same action which it exerts upon 
the stomach in the first instance, will be exerted upon every 



30 VEGETABLE DIET 

other living fibre, to whicli it is applied. It is, however, ap- 
plied to all ; it accumulates in the body ; and the more as the 
powers of elimination become more feeble, the action is con- 
tinued, unceasing ; and there is, therefore, no degree of injury, 
even to the complete destruction of the system, which it may 
not readily be conceived ultimately to produce. 

I would observe further, that, with reo-ard to the noxious 
and the deleterious effect of the stagnant water of marshes, 
there has been but one common sentiment among all writers, 
from the days of Hippocrates to the present hour, in assigning 
to this cause a portion of the remarkable insalubrity of such 
situations. Examined hydrostatically, it is found to possess the 
greatest specific gravity ; and it is the most loaded with foreign 
matter. But the peculiar noxious principle of these waters is 
nothing but the corrupted animal and vegetable matters with 
which they are impregnated. These matters are, therefore, 
poisonous. In consequence, they ought to be suspected where- 
ever they are found. In inquiring therefore into the salubrity 
of waters in general, or into that of any particular example, it 
is this impregnation which I conceive ought to be the chief 
object of research. Simple earthy matter (though much has 
been said against it) has never been shown to be particularly 
unfriendly to the human system. Metallic matter, of all kinds, 
is a more just object of suspicion. But ih.e2mtrid or pz^^rescewi 
matter, the animal or veo-etable substances in a state of decom- 
position, is that which is actively mischievous. It is immedi- 
ately and directly deleterious. It is astonishing to consider 
how greatly the influence of this matter has been overlooked, 
even by writers who were fully aware of the general impor- 
tance of the subject,* 

It cannot, I think, be doubted that the inconveniences which 
have been found to result from the use of water alone, as a 
common beverage, have been the principal motive, which has 
induced men to have recourse to spirituous and fermented 
liquors as a substitute. By these means some of these incon- 
veniences have been partially obviated or counteracted, but at 
the expense, probably, of still greater evils. But I return to a 
few more general considerations. 

* It is a remarkable fact that in the western country animals generally 
— some say always — have diseased livers; so much so that this partis 
never used for food. The inhabitants too, who suffer generally so much 
from fevers, doubtless have all diseased livers to a greater or less extent. 
There is every reason to believe that the bad water which is so common 
throughout that country, is a prominent cause of the diseases of both man 
and anhiials in those parts. — S. , 



IN CHRONIC PISEASES. 31 



CHAPTER III. 

Is disease essential to the nature of man? — The locality of particular dis- 
eases exemplified in remittent and intermittent fevers. — The hypo- 
thesis of Linnaeus. — Contagions, Scurvy, Bronchocele, and Cretin- 
ism. — General Conclusions. 

The belief in the existence of a first and supreme Cause, and 
the persuasion that benevolence forms a part of his nature, and 
entered, as it were, into the original scheme and intention of the 
Creator, in the formation of the universe, are so deeply im- 
pressed upon the human mind that to dissent from them is re- 
garded as a species of impiety, and to avow this dissent as i>o 
better than downright madness. 

It has been taught, both by ancient and modern philoso- 
phers, that the universe is, upon the whole, a perfect work, 
or the best that could have been possibly made. It has been 
hard, however, to reconcile the existence of evil with this hy- 
pothesis ; and those who have attempted to solve this knotty 
problem have contented themselves with supposing that it has 
been the result of some inevitable necessity. One of the an- 
cient sages adopted this explanation to account for the diseases 
of men. Crysippus was of opinion, that it could never have 
been the aim or first intention of the author of nature and pa- 
rent of all good to make men obnoxious to diseases ; but that 
while he was producing many excellent things, and forming his 
work in the best manner, other things also arose, connected with 
tliem, that were incommodious, which were not made for their 
own sakes, but were pfrmitted as necessary consequences of 
what was best. 

This certainly does not appear to be entertaining very ex- 
alted notions of divine power. To suppose either that diseases 
are not real evils, or to feign any hypothetical necessity for 
their existence, and to pronounce it impossible for Omnipotence 
itself to preserve the human body from them (for this account 
involves, I think, one of these suppositions), appears an equal 
extravaarance. 

When we consider the tendency of nature to perfection in all 
her works, and that this tendency is in nothing more apparent 
than in the structure of animal bodies, it appears indeed a 
strange anomaly that the human frame, the masterpiece of the 
creation, should be so liable to derangement and disease. If I 



32 VEGETABLE E jjET 

may say so without irrreverence, it appears as if the most beau- 
tiful of designs liad failed from error and want of wisdom in 
the execution. More than half the race perish in infancy, and 
of the remainder a large portion are the victims of pain and 
suffering. Of those who have strength sufficient to arrive at 
manhood, the greater part are doomed to have little more than 
a glimpse of life, and to perish prematurely. Of those even, 
who appear strong and healthy, if we examine narrowly into 
their habits or their feelings, we shall find hardly an individual 
who will not acknowledge some defect, some secret uneasiness, 
something that diminishes his present comfort, and which ex- 
cites apprehensions for the future. In some, the solids destined 
to the support of the body are unequal to their object, and the 
bones yield to the incumbent weight ; in others, the moving 
powers have a similar defect, the muscles hardly overcoming 
the resistance opposed to them. The senses are, in many, dull 
and imperfect ; in many, they are preternaturally acute. The 
vital functions are often performed laboriously ; the circulation 
is either sluggish or too rapid ; the respiration straitened or 
hurried ; the digestion is ill performed ; the stomach oppressed 
with crudities ; the secretions irregular ; even the element in 
which we are placed appears ill suited to the organs to which 
it is destined to be applied ; some cannot bear the coldness of 
the atmosphere ; to others its heat is equally intolerable ; and 
so strangely constituted are individual constitutions, that an air 
loaded with mephitic vapors appears better suited to them than 
one that is pure and uncontaminated. 

Man prides himself upon possessing an intellect superior to 
that of all other animals, and to take reason for the guide of 
all his actions. But as far as happiness, or the mere absence 
of suffering, is the end of action, the reason of man appears to 
be inferior to the animal instinct. A brutal ignorance debases 
and enslaves the great mass of mankind. They appear incapa- 
ble of acquiring knowledge ; of perceiving the connection of the 
ideas which are laid before them, or the obvious relations of 
cause and eflfect. Thus they are void of all independence of 
thought or principle ; a blind adherence to custom, or a slavish 
submission to authority, becomes the rule of life, and is sub- 
stituted for self-government, and a manly obedience to the voice 
of truth and the dictates of reason. 

The moral traits are as much distorted as the physical. The 
affections, which should link man to m.an, and make each hu- 
man being regard his fellow-creature as his brother, are 
choked and almost extinguished. Envy, hatred, jealousy, and 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 33 

all the malignant passions, predominate in the human bosom. 
The infliction of pain upon sensitive beings, instead of exciting 
compassion, is, Avith the multitude, a source of pastime and 
memment. To such a degree are the strongest instincts of our 
nature perverted, that the first principle of self-preservation is 
finally destroyed ; the hand is raised against the existence of 
its possessor, or the parental arm against the hfe of the 
offspring. 

Such is an outline, too faithful, of the habitual condition, 
perhaps of the majority, of the human species. I omit the 
still darker shades of the picture ; the tragedies which perpet- 
ually embitter domestic life ; our crowded hospitals, from the 
gates of which shoals of supplicants are, by necessity, repelled ; 
our surgical operations, the very thoughts of which make the 
blood run cold ; and our madhouses, the interior of which pre- 
sents views from which sensibility shrinks with horror and af- 
fright. Can we avoid askingr ourselves. Is this enormous mass 
of evil then necessary and unavoidable ? Does it result from 
the very nature of things, and the primitive organization of 
man ? or, on the other hand, is it not factitious, the conse- 
quence of an artificial mode of hfe, of corrupt habits, or of ac- 
cidents which may possibly be avoided ? The determination 
of these questions is undoubtedly of the highest interest to the 
whole human race. I must confine myself within a straight 
and narrow circle, and consider only the physical evils of hu- 
man nature. If we are forced to attribute these evils to the 
constitution of human nature, we must submit to them as we 
do to tempests and earthquakes, and the other convulsions of 
nature. If, however, there is reason to apprehend that a large 
portion of these calamities is the oflfspring of accident, of error, 
or of vice, we may expect, by the diffusion of knowledge, the 
correction of abuses, and, by the introduction of rational habits, 
to annihilate, or, at least, greatly diminish them. If the pre- 
judices of the present age are too strong to allow any expecta- 
tion of much instant benefit, it presents at least a more pleas- 
ing prospect of futurit}^ to animate the exertions of the philo- 
sopher and the philanthropist. And this view of the subject 
seems consonant to the ideas which appear implanted in every 
well-regulated mind, of the justice and benevolence of the 
Deity. I shall here bring forward a few facts which appear 
favorable to it. 

In the first place, it is fully established and sufficiently well 
known, that tribes of diseases, which are fatal to vast multitudes 
of persons, are fixed to, and, as it were, domiciliated in certain 
2* 



84 VEGETABLE DIET 

situations and certain soils, and are the direct product of mat- 
ter o-enerated in them, or of miasmas emanatino- from them. 
In all countries that are low and flat, overspread with lakes and 
ponds of stagnant water, and with large marshes, pestiferous 
exhalations excite maho-nant fevers of the remittent or inter- 
mittent kind, fluxes, and their attendant evils. The immediate 
agent of these diseases are heat and moisture acting upon dead 
animal and vegetable matter, producing in them a state of de- 
composition ; in a word, certain forms of common elementary 
matter. In some cases, these are so active as to produce in- 
stantaneous death ; at other times, they act more slowly, excit- 
ing diseases of the above-mentioned form, fatal to' many, while 
others with difficulty escape. 

Examples of diseases of this kind are abundant in the writ- 
ino-s both of medical authors and of travelers. The works of 
Pringle, Cleghorn, Lind, and others, will readily furnish them. 
The districts in which they have been most commonly observed 
to be epidemical, are between the tropics upon the coast of 
Guinea ; Hungary, which, from the same cause, is the most un- 
healthy country of Europe ; the environs of Venice ; the Pontine 
marshes ; the island of St. Thomas ; Guiana ; Porto-Rico ; Car- 
thagena. In the western hemisphere it has been commonly 
called Yellow Fever. But as the immediate ao-ents of these 
effects, viz., dead animal and vegetable matter, acted upon by 
heat and moisture, are diffused over the Avhole surface of the 
earth, situations such as those which have been enumerated are 
remarkable only as abounding in these agents, in the highest 
degree of force and concentration. The same effects are pro- 
duced wherever the same causes exist. Matter of the same 
kind, generated in sufficient quantity and in a due degree of 
concentration, will generate fevers of these kinds in any situa- 
tion whatever. Accordingly we find that there are seasons 
when such fevers are much diffused over countries in which 
they are not endemical. Agues are said to have arisen some- 
times in London, excited perhaps by the filth of the streets or 
the putrefaction of the markets. Dr. Trotter remarks that 
they have been observed to take place on shipboard. His 
words are : " Wood improperly seasoned will, on certain occa- 
sions, produce a sickly crew. After a cruise of rainy and even 
foggy weather we often meet with fevers in a ship, attended 
with all the essential symptoms and forms of the remittent kind, 
occasioned by marshy effluvia. It is probable that the cause of 
these fevers is the same in a ship as on land." 

Nor are diseases of this form the only consequences of the 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 35 

pestiferous miasmas, and other morbific causes, which are accu- 
mulated in those situations. The continued action of these 
causes changes and modifies the system, imprints upon it a 
pecuHar character, and engenders habitual disease, or an habi- 
tual predisposition to disease in those who escape the more 
violent and fatal attacks of malignant fevers. Obstinate hypo- 
chondriacal affections, elephantiasis, and obstinate leprous dis- 
eases, and premature old age, are said to be habitual to the 
unfortunate inhabitants of these ill-fated spots. They carry, 
imprinted in their form and features, the marks of the insalu- 
brity of their residence ; and thus verify the ancient remark of 
Hippocrates, " that the constitutions of men are conformable to 
the soil which they inhabit." 

In illustration of this fact I may cite the statement of Bruce. 
" At Waldubba," he says, "in Abyssinia, violent fevers per- 
petually reign. The inhabitants are all the color of a corpse." 
At Gondar, the capital of this country, the same is said to be 
the case. An account of Captain Turner is still more remark- 
able, and deserves, I think, to be transcribed. It is in the fol- 
lowing terms : " At the foot of the Bootan Mountains, a plain 
extends for about thirty miles in breadth, choked rather than 
clothed with the most luxuriant vegetation. The exhalations 
necessarily arising from the multitude of springs which the 
vicinity of the mountains produces, are collected and confined 
by these almost impervious woods, and generate an atmosphere 
through which no traveler ever passed with impunity. The 
effects were fatal to Captain Jones, and to a great part of the 
troops that served under him in 1'7'72; and Colonel Sir John 
Cuming, one of the few that escaped with life, still feels its in- 
jurious consequences. Yet even this spot is not without inhab- 
itants ; although its influence has wholly debased in them the 
form, the size, and the strength of human creatures." 

We may conclude from these facts (it is indeed the reason 
of my producing them), that these diseases which have swept 
away, and are daily sweeping away, large portions of the human 
race, are not occasioned by any debility or defect in the human 
constitution, but by the operation of extraneous and foreign 
causes. They are not therefore essential to the nature of man, 
but are accidental, and produced by the situations in which he 
is placed. And in this particular case the immediate agents 
are the common elements of nature, the matter which enters 
into the composition of organic beings in general, whether ani- 
mals or vegetables, but, wita its properties, changed by spon- 
taneous decomposition. By this decomposition they are ren- 



36 VEGETABLE DIET 

dered destructive and poisonous.* They are perhaps the most 
striking examples that can be produced of the suddenly dele- 
terious effects of these agents, with the exception only of those 
vapors which produce; instant death, or the poisonous winds 
of the African deserts. 

The suddenness of the effect, when a person is placed in the 
situation in which the causes of these diseases are present, shows 
them to be produced by pestiferous exhalations, and not to be 
immediately connected with the insalubrity of the water. The 
exposure of a few hours is frequently enough to engender a fatal 
attack of disease. It is said that to sleep in the country adjoin- 
ing the Tacazze, in Abyssinia, is death. However, at no re- 
mote period the occasional cause of these fevers was not under- 
stood ; the observations of physicians and surgeons employed 
in the naval and military services have principally disclosed it. 
Linnaeus ascribed them to the insalubrity of marshy water ; and 
supported his hypothesis by much plausible reasoning. It is 
needless to examine the arguments he has employed. I men- 
tion the fact only to show the suspicions entertained by the 
most eminent observers with regard to the salubrity of water. 
It is indeed highly probable that it is a powerful concurrent 
agent in forming the unhealthy state of constitution of persons 
residincr in these situations. 

The consideration of contagious diseases leads to the same 
conclusions as the remittent and intermittent fever. This is a 
large class of diseases, and they cut off constantly numerous 
victims from society. Plague, putrid and nervous fevers (under 
the common denomination of typhus), small-pox, measles, hoop- 
ing-cough, scarlatina (including the putrid sore throat), syphilis, 
and chicken-pox, are the principal examples of the most severe 
diseases of this tribe.f They are all of them produced by mat- 
ter or exhalations from the human body. As there are socie- 
ties of men in which they are unknown, and as, for the most 
part, they appear to have arisen at no very remote period, 

* If an arsenical oxide be composed of common elementary matter, so 
loosely united as to be capable of decomposition, it may be easily con- 
ceived that during the decomposition of animal and vegetable matter, in 
which their elements unite into new forms, and in an infinite variety of 
proportions, some may form an arsenical oxide itself. Again, if this most 
deleterious poison be composed of the common elements, it is very con- 
ceivable that other deletei'ious matter, not exactly the same in kind, but 
as destructive, may be formed out cf the same elements. 

t Hydrophobia, the most terrible of the contagious diseases, is uniformly 
fatal ; but is, fortunately, so rare as not to deserve mention as one of tha 
diseases affecting the bulk of society. 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 37 

there can be no doubt that these diseases are all of them arti- 
ficial and factitious, the product of society, and not an essential 
condition annexed to the existence of man. The multitudes, 
therefore, who have perished by these diseases may be truly 
said to have been the victims, not of nature — not of any defect 
in the organization or powers of the human frame — but of the 
artificial modes of life, or of some other accidents and misfor- 
tunes incident to society. 

Scurvy is another disease which has cut off vast multitudes 
of men. It has been satisfactorily traced to an improper sys- 
tem of dieting, and particularly to the want of a due supply of 
fresh vegetable matter. It is, therefore, wholly an artificial 
disease. 

The most familiar and well-known example of disease being 
produced by locality is that of Bronchocele or Goitre. It re- 
ceives its name even from the districts which it infests : being 
called with us the Derbyshire Throat, and even the Coventry 
Throat. These are the enormous scrofulous tumors, which 
Hoffman says are caused by the use of hard and rough waters 
in mountainous districts. The valleys of mountainous countries 
are its favorite residence, though it is by no means confined to 
such spots. The valleys where the disorder is most frequent, 
are those surrounded by very high mountains, sheltered from 
the currents of air, and exposed to the direct, and, still more, 
to the vertical rays of the sun. Even under a tropical sun, the 
same concurrence of causes produces similar effects. In Savoy 
and Switzerland, among the Pyrenean mountains, in the island 
of Sumatra, and in certain parts of Tartary, the bronchocele is 
endemical, and there are many corresponding features of resem- 
blance in the situation where it is found. M. Saussure asserts, 
that in the Alpine countries he never observed goitre in any 
places which are elevated more than 500 or 600 toises (3200 
and 3840 English feet) above the level of the sea; he noticed 
them in those valleys where the heat is concentrated, and the 
air stagnates ; and observed that they usually cease where the 
valley terminates and the country expands into a large plain. 

In situations favorable to the production of this disease, it 
affects animals as well as the human species. Even dogs are 
said to be subject to it. It is asserted also, apparently upon 
good authority, that it affects both sheep and horned cattle. 

This is the disease which has, with the greatest confidence, 
been ascribed to the operation of unwholesome water, and it re- 
quires, indeed, a wonderful degree of skepticism to doubt that 
this is, if not the sole, at least a powerful antecedent and con- 



38 VEGETABLE DIET 

curring cause. Popular opinion attributes it to this every 
where : in Europe, in North and in South America ; and many 
respectable writers have thought this opinion well founded. 
Hoffman says that a particular well, in the village of Flach 
{ditionis TigurincB), is called by a term answering to fons strii- 
marum, from its producing these swellings of the neck. Mr. 
De Luc, and Mr. Coxe, who have made many observations on 
this disease, have espoused this notion; and the much more 
weighty authority of the elder Heberden is on the same side. He 
says, " I think that the cause of the bronchocele is to be sought 
for in the water, a chemical investigation of which is therefore a 
great desideratum !" Those who have opposed it, appear not 
to have done so for sufEcirent reasons. It is confessed by Dr. 
Barton, who is not favorable to this opinion, ** that the water 
in that part of the state of New York in which I have observed 
the goitre to prevail, besides holding in solution and diffusion 
a portion of calcareous earth, appeared to be otherwise very 
impure, and was certainly unpleasant to the taste." In other 
districts the same thing was noticed still more strongly. Others, 
who speak slightingly of this opinion, content themselves with 
asserting that the water Avas pellucid and well tasted. Such is 
the objection of Dr. Reeves ; an objection certainly of very little 
weight, when unsupported by more particular examinations. 

Mr. Coxe was informed by a surgeon practicing in Switzer- 
land, that his principal method of preventing goitre consisted in 
removing the patients from the places where the springs deposit 
a copious calcareous sediment, which is called by the inhabitants 
Tuf ; and if that could not be effected, by forbidding the use 
of water that was not purified. This surgeon even practiced 
distillation for the purpose of purifying the water. 

On this subject I can speak a little from my own experience. 
In the parish of Home, in the county of Surrey (a village six or 
seven miles to the south of Ryegate), is* the house of a laboring 
man whose family consisted of five daughters. Of these, four, 
while girls, become affected with bronchocele. In all, the dis- 
ease was formed on this spot ; but it continued, and even in- 
creased after they had left it, going out to service. I saw one 
of them, a woman perhaps of twenty-four, married in the neigh- 
borhood ; in her the gland continued swelled ; but she said it 
was much diminished. The domestic water of this spot was a 
soft water mingling readily with soap ; it had a peculiar and not 
agreeable taste ; it deposited a small sediment by boiling, and 
showed (by oxalate of ammon-ia) a slight calcareous impregna- 
tion, but no more, probably, than is common to all the domes- 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 39 

tic waters of this country. I used the process described in an- 
other place, by which I determined that it was much impreg- 
nated with putrescent matter, which I beheve to be much more 
noxious than the calcareous impregnation; and I doubt not, 
therefore, that this water had an active share in forming the 
diseased constitutions of these females. 

Without speaking positively on the antecedent causes of this 
disease, I think the most tenable hypothesis seems to be that 
which attributes it to the continued operation, with an inferior 
degree of force, of the causes which excite the intermittent and 
remittent fever. The village of Home is low and damp, near 
the banks of the I^Iole ; and formerly agues were common there. 
The heat and confined moisture of the places where it is en- 
demical, point strongly to causes of this nature. Mr. Marsden 
says that in the valleys of the mountains of Sumatra, where 
this disease is common, there is a dense fog every morning 
which is hardly dissipated by the rays of the sun till the after- 
noon. It is also affirmed that where this disease is common, 
the bulk of the inhabitants are indolent in their disposition; 
and, in consequence, filthy, and having made little progress in 
civilization ; they are said to be extremely wan and livid, and 
much subject to intermitting fevers. But whatever are the 
antecedent causes of bronchocele, it is certain that they must 
be applied for some years before they produce their full effect, 
and that the effect will remain for a very considerable time, 
after removing from the situation in which the disease was 
generated. 

Whatever, too, are these causes there can be no doubt that 
they are local causes, and some modifications of common ele- 
mentary matter. Other examples of diseases, whose antece- 
dent causes are local, might readily be adduced ; but I have 
said enough for my immediate object. From the facts brought 
forward, therefore, I shall make, in this place, one or two con- 
clusions, which, though very obvious and conformable to many 
other facts in the history of disease, are httle considered in 
speculation, and still less acted upon in the conduct of life. 

Where bronchocele is common, a species of idiotcy of the 
worst kind, under the name of Cretinism, is also prevalent, and 
is obviously the effect of the same local circumstances. These 
miserable objects are radically defective in their organization ; 
they are bereaved of all the powers, faculties, and privileges of 
humanity, and hardly preserve the form of human beings. We 
may therefore conclude, that there is no degree of morbid de- 
viation from the licalthy poAvers and structure of the body 



40 VEGETABLE DIET 

wliich cannot be produced by the continued operation of local 
causes.* 

But under the very circumstances in which these monstrous 
deviations from nature are produced, many are equal to all the 
common offices of life, and enjoy apparent good health. In 
the human body itself there is a certain degree of resisting 
power ; in some stronger ; in others more feeble ; the most sus- 
ceptible are those which most suffer. This adds to the difficul- 
ties of the inquiry. Men cannot easily apprehend that the 
things with which they support themselves, with little or no 
evident uneasiness, can be the cause of disease or of death in 
others; and from hence arise contention, caviling, and mis- 
placed ridicule. But to those who consider the wonderful and 
inj&nite variety in the human constitution, a corresponding va- 
riety in the agencies of the same substances on different consti- 
tutions can offer no difficulty ; nor is any fact in the history of 
human nature more firmly established by evidence. 

* " The body of these poor creatures is stunted, their height not exceed- 
ing four feet. There is a total want of due proportion between it and the 
other parts, the height of the head with reference to the body being from 
one fourth to one fihh, instead of one eighth, the natural proportion ; the 
neck is strong, and bent downward ; the upper limbs reach below the 
knees, and the arm is shorter than the fore-arm ; the chest narrow, the 
abdomen hemispherical, and of a length not exceeding the height of the 
head ; the thighs, with the haunches, of greater width than the shoulders, 
and shorter than the legs, the calves of which are wanting ; the feet and 
toes distorted. In the head, the masticating organs, the lower jaw, and 
the nose, preponderate considerably over the organs of sense and intelli- 
gence ; the skull is depressed, and forms a lengthened and angular ellipsis ; 
the receding forehead presents internally large frontal sinuses, to which 
the brain has yielded part of its place ; the top of the head is flattened, 
instead of being vaulted ; the occiput projects but slightly, and runs almost 
even with the nape of the neck, as in ruminating animals. The face is 
neither oval nor round, but spread out in width ; the eyes are far apart, 
slightly diverging, small, and deep-seated in their orbits ; the pupil con- 
tracted, and not very sensitive to light ; the eyelids, except when morbidly 
swollen, are flaccid and pendent. Their look is an unmeaning stare, and 
turns with indifference from every thing that is not eatable. The elon- 
gated form of the lower jaw, the thick and padded lips, give them a 
greater resemblance to ruminating creatures than to man. The tongue is 
rather cylindrical than flat, and the saliva is constantly running fi'om the 
angles of their mouth. Enlargement of the thyroid glands generally pre- 
vails, sometimes to an enormous extent. Indeed, this appearance is com- 
monly considered as a distinguishing sign of cretinism. The other glands 
of the throat are also obstructed. Many of these poor wretches are both 
deaf and dumb ; yet do they appear unconscious of their miserable exist- 
ence. Stretched out or gathered up under the solar rays, their head 
drooping in idiotic apathy, they ars only roused from their torpor when 
food is presented to them." — Dr. Millingen's Curiosities of Medical Ex- 
perience. — S. 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 41 

The diseases to which we have now particularly adverted, 
or at least the contagions, and those obviously originating in 
locahty, form no inconsiderable portion of the whole number 
which infest society, and occasion such an immense mortality. 
The small-pox alone has often been the occasion of one fourth 
part of the annual mortality ; and it is not ir&probable that, 
now that it has been in a great degree suppressed by vaccina- 
tion, the other contagions and the diseases which seem to arise 
spontaneously in the system will, in a great measure, supply its 
place. Now I would not dwell too strongly upon an argument 
merely analogical ; nor say that because this large class of dis- 
eases is evidently artificial, all others must be so likewise. 
Analogy is but a fallacious guide ; nor ought it ever to be con- 
fided in when it is possible to arrive at direct evidence. But so 
much may be said with perfect fairness. As a large portion 
of the diseases which cut men off in civil society are proved to 
be artificial, and there is reason to suspect the same thing of 
others in which so direct a proof cannot be obtained, there can 
be nothing extravagant or absurd in the supposition that they 
all are artificial, and to be traced to some morbific causes either 
of circumstances or manners. And should this hypotheis, after 
due investigation, prove correct, there can be nothing absurd, 
extravagant, or enthusiastic in the hope that, finally, successful 
methods may be discovered, either of treating them when form- 
ed, or, at least, of preventing their formation. 



CHAPTER IV. 



Mortality subject to fixed laws. — Erroneous opinionson this subject. — 
The artificial nature and identity of constitutional disease. 

If these facts render it highly probable that locality, and other 
accidents of life, foreign to the body itself, are the circumstances 
which chiefly influence the health, the same truth is placed be- 
3'ond controversy by the observations that have been made, in 
the mass, upon the human species. Bills of mortality, surveys, 
or parochial registers, have aflforded the materials of these ob- 
servations. To illustrate this position, I shall make use of the 
statements and inferences contained in the essays which form 
a part of Dr. Price's " Observations on Reversionary Pay- 
ments,'' etc. I cannot follow a safer guide. 



42 vegeta-ile diet 

From these it appears, that in every particular place there is 
an invariable law which governs the waste of human life. In 
single years, owing to the seasons, to the absence or prevalence 
of epidemics, or other accidental circumstances, the quantity of 
disease may vary, and the number of deaths be less or greater. 
But taking the average of a series of years together, the same 
total numbers have been found to die in the same situations, in 
the equal successive periods of time. These facts are estab- 
lished by observations taken from the bills of London, of North- 
ampton, of Norwich, in England, and of many other places in 
various parts of Europe. In situations moderately healthy, as 
in moderate-sized towns, the rates of decrease have been found 
to coincide very nearly with the hypothesis of Mr. de Moivre, 
who, assuming 86 years to be the utmost extent of life, sup- 
posed an equal decrement of life through all its stages, till it 
was finally extinguished. For example, of 56 persons alive at 
30 years of age, one will die every year till, in 56 years, they 
will be all dead. The same will happen to 46 persons at 40, 
in 46 years, and so on, for all other ages. At most ages be- 
tween 30 and 10 or 75, the results of this hypothesis are very 
nearly conformable to actual observations. But both in the 
earlier and in the later stages of life, the law of decrease is very 
different. In London also, and in large cities, in general the 
current of hfe flows with greater rapidity. In the country, on 
the other hand, communities are more healthy, and, in conse- 
quence, life is expended more slowly. 

As life at all ages wastes according to invariable laws, so 
likewise does it at a given age. In consequence, the expecta- 
tion of life either at birth, or at any given age, that is to say, 
the mean continuance of any given, single, joint, or surviving 
lives, may, from tables properly constructed, be calculated with 
mathematical certaint}^ 

The proportions between the whole numbers living at any 
age and upward, and the whole number of the community, is 
a fixed proportion. This fact is established by observation, and 
is indeed a consequence of the invariable laws according to 
which human life is expended. 

From these documents the havoc made in human life, by 
collecting multitudes of men together in great cities, is fully 
demonstrated. There is no stage of life in which this perni- 
cious influence is not evident, but it is most remarkable in the 
earliest stages. In London, according^ to the most moderate 
computation, half the number born die under three years of 
age ; in Vienna and Stockholm, under two. And other things 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 43 

being equal, tlie insalubrity of towns appears to be in propor- 
tion to their size. 

The proportion of persons who die annually in great towns, 
is found to be one nineteenth or one twentieth of the whole 
population. In moderate towns, it is from one twenty-third to 
one twenty-eighth. In the country, the proportion has been 
found to be from one thirty-fifth or one fortieth to one fiftieth 
or one sixtieth. In London, the number of years which a child 
at birth has been found, upon an average, to reach, is rather 
less than twenty. In Norwich, half die under five years ; in 
Northampton, under ten. In the parish of Holy Cross, near 
Salop, the expectation of a child at birth is thirty-three years : 
one half the inhabitants live to thirty years of age. At Ack- 
worth, in Yorkshire, half the inhabitants live to the age of forty- 
six. In the town of Manchestei-, one twenty-eighth part of the 
inhabitants die annually ; in the country, in its immediate vicin- 
ity, the number is not more than one fifty-sixth part. 

Large cities are as unfavorable to longevity as they are destruc- 
tive of infant life, and unfriendly to health at every period. In 
country places it is the reverse. At Holy Cross, one in eleven 
and a half of the whole population die at upward of eighty years 
of age. At Ackworth, one fourteenth of the inhabitants reach 
the same age. At Northampton, the proportion is one twenty- 
second part ; at Norwich, one twenty-seventh. But in Lon- 
don only one in forty arrives at this age ; whereas, if other 
things were equal, the proportion in London ought to be greater 
than in other places, since at least one fourth of its inhabitants 
are persons who come into London from the country, in the 
most robust period of life, at which the probability of living to 
old age is the greatest. Of the natives of London, not more 
than one in sixty attains the age of four-score. 

Though villages and country places are more healthy than 
towns, and that in a deo-ree to excite astonishment in those who 
are imperfectly acquainted with the facts, yet there is a great 
diversity in the healthiness of different villages and country 
places. This demonstrates and exemplifies the important in- 
fluence of locality in the production of disease, and on the 
length of human life. Marshy situations, conformably to what 
has been already said of their general insalubrity, are the most 
unfavorable to the health, insomuch that they are as destruc- 
tive of life as large cities. Dr. Price has, in the following par- 
agraph, strikingly contrasted the different salubrity of dif- 
ferent parishes in the small district of Vaud, in the county of 
Berne. 



44 VEGETABLE DIET 

*' One half of all born in the mountains live to the age of 47. 
In the marshy parish, one half hve only to the age of 25. In 
the hills, 1 in 20 of all that are born live to 80, In the marshy 
parish, only 1 in 52 reaches this age. In the hills, a person aged 
40 has a chance of 80 to 1 for living a year. In the marshy 
parish, his chance of living a year is not 30 to 1. In the hills, 
persons aged 20, 30, and 40, have an even chance for living 41, 
33, and 25 years, respectively. In the fenny parish, persons at 
those ages have an even chance of living only 30, 23, and 15 
years." 

The average mortality of England and Wales is calculated, in 
the year 1810, to be 1 in 49. In the parts subject to the ague, 
Kent, Essex, Cambridgeshire, and the East Riding of Yorkshire, 
the mortality is above this average. At Boston, in the fens of 
Lincolnshire, the mortality is 1 in 2*7. At Stamford, which is in 
the dry and upland division of the same county, it is only 1 in 50. 

The duration of human life, then, is regulated by fixed and 
invariable laws. Nor does it at all affect the general deduc- 
tions drawn from these facts, though the observations on which 
they are founded should not be correctly applicable to the pre- 
sent state of things. It is thought, and probably with reason, 
that the healthiness both of this empire and of the metropolis 
is improved since the time when Dr. Price published his obser- 
vations. Dr. Heberden, the younger, estimates the present rate of 
mortality in London to be 1 in 30 nearly ; a prodigious improve- 
ment if it be just! But it has been always found that the ex- 
ternal circumstances of society remaining unchanged, the rate 
of mortality is uniform ; and when this rate has been found to 
undergo any considerable and permanent alteration, it may be 
traced to some corresponding change in these circumstances. 
The extension of agriculture ; draining and enclosure of wastes ; 
cleansing of towns ; ventilation of private houses ; improvements 
in diet and clothing ; such, in general, are the sources of im- 
proved health and prolonged life. I suspect myself that the 
increased cultivation of the potato, and its very general use 
among the laboring classes of London, has, more than any 
other single cause, contributed to the improved health of the 
metropolis.* 

A fact related by Mr. Malthus, with regard to the town of 
Geneva, proves how great a change has really taken place in 

* I have heard it suggested, not perhaps without reason, that the sub- 
stitution of cotton for woolen clothing has been the cause of the disap- 
pearance in so great a degree, of late years, of the low contagious or 
tvphus fever. 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 45 

the same spot, and at no very distant period of time. In this 
town, in the sixteenth century, the probabihty of Hfe, or the 
age to which half the born hved, was only 4.883 — rather less 
than four years and nine tenths; and the mean life 18.511 — 
about eighteen years and a half. In the seventeenth century 
the probability of life was 11.607 — above eleven years and a 
half; the mean life 23.358. In the eighteenth century the pro- 
babihty of life had increased to 27.183 — twenty- seven years 
and nearly a fifth ; and the mean life to thirty-two years and 
a fifth. 

The conclusions which forced themselves upon the mind of 
the enlightened and respectable writer who has principally fur- 
ifished me with these materials, I cannot refrain from giving in 
his own language: *' Death," says Mr. Price, *'is an evil to 
which the order of Providence has subjected every inhabitant 
of this earth; but to men it has been rendered unspeakably 
more an evil than it was designed to be. The greatest part of 
that black catalogue of diseases which ravage human life, is the 
offspring of the tenderness, the luxury, and the coiTuptions in- 
troduced by the vices and false refinements of civil society. 
That dehcacy which is injured by every breath of air, and that 
rottenness of constitution which is the effect of indolence, in- 
temperance, and debauchery, was never intended by the Author 
of nature ; and it is impossible that they should not lay the 
foundation of numberless sufferings, and terminate in premature 
and miserable deaths." To the same purpose, says another 
writer who is very competent to form a correct opinion, when 
his judgment is not warped by a favorite hypothesis : "Diseases 
have been generally considered as the inevitable inflictions of 
Providence ; but perhaps the greater part of them may more 
justly be considered as indications that we have offended against 
some of the laws of nature." When persons of enlarged minds, 
and who are unfettered by professional prejudices, arrive at the 
same conclusions, it affords no weak presumption that they are 
justly formed. 

These intelligent Avriters, then, have concluded that our dis- 
eases are, for the most part, artificial. But we must not con- 
fine ourselves to vague and barren generalities. It is essential 
to view the subject still more closely, and attend more exactly 
to the consequences which flow irresistibly from the data which 
have been established. This is the more necessary as there are, 
I think, many incorrect notions afloat on these subjects, and 
many who are acquainted with the fact i do not appear im- 
pressed with their proper consequences. 



16 VEGETABLE DIET 

We may say for certain, that it is not the fact that it is an 
estabhshed law of nature that a large portion of the human 
race must perish in infancy, or in very early youth. And yet 
this is both asserted, and appears to be believed, by some of 
our best medical writers. To this purpose Dr. Woolcombe, 
influenced evidently by the principles of Mr. Malthus, says (I 
quote at second hand from Dr. Watt's Treatise on Hooping 
Cough), " Since disease is one of the appointed checks to ex- 
cessive population, and the plan of Providence in the creation 
of human life requires the termination of the existence of one 
third of its creatures before they have attained the age of two 
years, it may be doubted whether the annihilation of so efficient 
an instrument as small-pox can be admitted without the sub- 
stitution of some equally destructive malady." If the premises 
were true, the conclusion would be inevitable. But they are 
in direct opposition to matter of fact. In this kingdom, in coun- 
try villages and parishes, the major part live to mature age, 
and even to marry. In one place one half have been observed 
to live to 30 years of age, in another to 46 years (see p. 43), 
and in a particular village in the Alps, called Leyzin, one half 
of the inhabitants reach the extraordinary age of Gl years. 
What proportion, in these cases, die before two years of age, 
we are not informed, but probably not a tenth part of those 
born.* But the just conclusion from the facts is, that as there 
is this amazing difference in mortality, according to local cir- 
cumstances and local habits — for both the one and the other 
should be always taken into the account — it does not seem essen- 
tially necessary, or " the plan of Providence in the creation of 
human life," that any who are produced healthy and perfect 

* I have before me the Annual Report of the City Inspector of the 
number of deaths and interments in the city of New York during the 
years 1847 and 1848, in which I find that in the first of these years there 
were 15,788 deaths, and of these 7373 were of children under j^ye years 
of age ; nearly one half the whole mortality ! 

In 1843 the v.'hole number of deaths in New York was 15,919: of 
adults, according to the Inspector's Report, 7020 ; of children, 8899. 

According to the Report of the Health of Towns' Association, showing 
the comparative mortality and disease in the extreme districts of each 
county in England and Wales, compiled from the returns of the Regis- 
trar-General for 1841, the proportion of deaths under j^ye years of age, to 
the total number of all dying (in the county of Lancaster, districts of 
Ulverstone and Liverpool), was 47.4! True, Lancaster was found the 
most unhealthy of all the counties of these two countries ; yet wherever 
observations have been made in large towns or cities, the world over, we 
find an alai'ming amount of mortality among children, and such as no one 
in his sober reason can for a moment attribute to a Divine dispensa- 
tion. — S. 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 47 

into the world should perish in infancy. On the contrary, it is 
certain from these facts, that the greater part of the fatal dis- 
eases of infancy are under the control of situation and habits of 
life ; and that, by a mere change of these external circumstances, 
they ma}'- be, if not wholly, yet for the greater part, annihilated. 
There is nothing, therefore, either contrary to analogy, or re- 
volting to common sense, in the supposition that by a more 
exact attention to these circumstances, or by a discovery of the 
agents, which are more immediately destructive of human life, 
the whole of this tribe of diseases might be really extinguished. 

Again, it appears that in certain places the expectation of life, 
or the number of years Avhich, upon an average, a child at birth 
arrives at, is^ in some places at least, double of what it is in 
others. For example, London and the island of Madeira are, 
or at least were, so circumstanced. In London, the expectation 
of a child at birth is estimated by Dr. Price to be little more 
than nineteen years ; wdiile in the island of Madeira, from the ac- 
count of Dr. T. Heberden, it has been found that the same ex- 
pectation is about thirty-nine years. If a child, therefore, born at 
London, living in London, and according to the habits of Lon- 
don, possesses strength of constitution sufficient to carry him to 
this middle term exactly, or nineteen years, it might be expected 
that if the same child had been removed at its birth to Madei- 
ra, and resided there, according to the habits of the place, he 
would still have reached the average period of this place, or 
thirty-nine years. Life then w^ould have been doubled ; and what- 
ever may be supposed the disease which w^ould have cut him 
off at nineteen, this disease would not have taken place till he 
had arrived almost at forty years of age. Thus it is rendered 
almost certain, that all the fatal diseases of early life are under 
the control of climate, situations, and habits of life. 

Let us suppose that a person, born, bred, and residing in 
London, dies at forty. Had such a one been transplanted to 
Madeira at birth, thouo-h his life would not have been doubled, 
he might be expected to have gained a great many years. But 
at forty there are none of our chronic diseases to which a per- 
son may not be supposed to fall a victim. It may be cancer, 
or asthma, or dropsy, or any of the acute and fatal inflamma- 
tions. It becomes, therefore, highly probable, that this whole 
tribe of diseases is under the control of climate, situation, and 
habits of life. 

I would not be understood as advancing this argument as a 
rigorous demonstration, including every possible case. Some 
contagions, perhaps, are fatal to persons in full health, who 



48 VEGETABLE DIET 

would otherwise live many years. The depopulation causeu 
in many regions by the small- pox, shows this to be the fact, I 
think, of that poison. It is, therefore, not improbable that the 
same may be true of others ; and the salubrity of some places 
may be owing, in some measure, to the absence of these con- 
tagions. Accidents, too, as extreme fatigue or extreme cold, 
may extinguish life, independent of all constitutional disease. 
These circumstances may make the bases of an arithmetical 
calculation uncertain, and cause a greater apparent disparity in 
the salubrity of different places, as far as depends upon locality 
and habits of life, than in fact exists. But after making all al- 
lowance for these grounds of uncertainty, it is still indisputable 
that there is a very great, and, indeed, an enormous difference 
in the length of life in different places, independent of what 
may be called accidental terminations of life, and such as fully 
justifies the general deductions which I have made. 

I may be allowed cursorily to add, that though diseases are, 
in fact, a check to population, and thereby the demand for food 
is made equal to the supply at any given period, yet it does 
not appear that a deficient supply of food is commonly the effi- 
cient antecedent cause of disease, as the h3'pothesis of Mr. 
Malthus appears- to imply. They are connected, not as cause 
and effect, but as it were accidentall}^ by the intermedium of 
the passions and interests of a certain portion of the community 
— the cultivators. In common times, a very small portion, in- 
deed, of the reigning diseases can be ascribed, with any pro- 
babihty, to a deficient nutriment. All the contagions and all 
the effects of locality — I may add all the effects of drunken- 
ness — act as powerfully upon the rich as upon the poor ; and 
these comprehend the great body of the reigning diseases. Nor 
has it ever been proved that, upon the whole, persons in easy 
circumstances live longer or raise larger families than the lower 
orders. Whatever may be the imaginary mischiefs of an ex- 
cessive population, they neither are, nor does it appear that they 
ever have been in action. Hitherto an increased demand for 
food, like a demand for all other commodities, has occasioned 
an increased supply, and that in proportion to the demand. 
This is true, at least, in civilized communities, versed in the arts 
of agriculture. 

The different healthiness of different places is popularly 
ascribed merely to a purer state of the atmosphere ; nor would 
I deny the debilitating influence of an impure atmosphere. 
But we should consider that the diseases of large toAvns, and 
the diseases of the country, are, \\£<^n the whole, the same dis- 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 49 

eases ; only in tlic towns tliey appear and prove fatal at an 
earlier stage of life. We cannot, therefore, directly trace the 
specific influence of an impure atmosphere ; we can only sup- 
pose it to accelerate the access of disease from other causes, or 
to render it more fatal. But the phenomena are essentially the 
same, whether they happen in great cities or in country villages ; 
in neither the one nor the other of these situations do we meet 
with diseases that are absolutely peculiar, and exclusively con- 
fined to the spot on which they appear. We cannot, therefore, 
acknowledge distinct causes as generative of disease, in large 
cities, from which the country is wholly free. We can only 
suppose that in cities the causes, be they what they may, are 
more active and concentrated. 

There are those who appear to think that the essential dif- 
ference of climate consists merely in a difference of temperature. 
They propose, by artificial methods, to correct the evils which 
they attribute to the coldness of our atmosphere; and they 
hope, by v/hat they call a regulated tem2')erature, to arrest the 
progress of, and even to cure, the most frequent and most fatal 
of our diseases. But it should be considered that though tem- 
perature has very considerable influence over the symptoms of 
disease, it has little or none over its general results and final 
termination. 

In diff'erent climates disease assumes different forms, and 
fixes its seat upon different organs. In the East Indies, prac- 
titioners hardly see the greater part of our European diseases ; 
rheumatism, catarrh, pleurisy, peripneumon}^ headaches, and 
toothaches are wholly unknown. But instead of these almost 
universal European diseases, another class, which are hardl}'- 
heard of with us, except perhaps for a month or two toward 
the close of the summer, are habitual and universal. They oc- 
cupy the liver, intestines, and mesentery, occasioning redun- 
dancy of bile, hepatic congestion, fluxes, and other disorders 
nidicative of increased mobility and irritability of all the parts 
of the S3'stem, comprehended within the extent of the cceliacal 
and portal circle. These differences may, probably, be justly 
ascribed to permanent differences of temperature, though we 
arc wholly ignorant of the mode in which they operate. But 
in point of general salubrity, the warm climates do not appear 
to nave any advantage over the temperate ; and, therefore, 
though the symptoms of some particular cases of disease may 
be alleviated by the mere avoiding of cold, yet it is highly impro- 
bahie that such a precaution alone can avert or much retard 
the Natality of any fixed diseases. 
8 



50 VEGETABLE DIET 

To tlie proposal for the use of ^regulated tem2oerature m con- 
sumption or other diseases, there hes a fundamental objection, 
independent of the weakness of the proofs by which it is sup- 
ported ; this is, that it is applicable only to persons in easy 
circumstances. If there is any law in the government of the 
universe more steady than another, it is that nothing, which is 
truly useful, is not useful to all. Neither food, nor clothing, 
nor medicines, nor a covering from the atmosphere, nor know- 
ledge sufficient for the guidance of life, are confined to any rank 
of society. Every plan of acquiring, whether it be health or 
happiness, which is not communicable to all, will assuredly 
prove abortive. 

Though temperature alone will not counteract powerful mor- 
bific causes, whether of diet or of locality, it cannot be doubt- 
ed, I think, that warmth is, within certain limits, favorable to 
the liuman constitution. But a chano-e of chmate includes com- 
monly a great change of other circumstances besides tempera- 
ture, and it illustrates most forcibly the effects of locality. 
These effects, though men have very indistinct notions as to 
their immediate causes, are universally acknowledged and 
acted upon. Upon it is founded the advice given in most ob- 
stinate diseases, to try what is called change of air. When we 
reflect upon the astonishing difference in the salubrity of dif- 
ferent places, w^e see clearly upon what foundation this advice 
rests ; and can feel no surprise at the great benefit which has 
been often experienced in obstinate diseases from a change of 
residence. Complaints, which have I'esisted the most judicious 
treatment, often quickly subside, as it were spontaneously, by 
quitting the situations in which they were formed. How many 
gain health instantly by going out of London ? This is a point 
on which the voice of all ages has been unanimous. *' In young 
persons afflicted with epilepsy," says Hippocrates, " changes 
effect the solution, of the disease, principally of age, and place, 
and manner of life," The daily experience of every individual 
corroborates, in some degree, these remarks. There hardly 
exists a person of some experience in life who has not found, 
with a change of residence, some corresponding change either 
in feelings or health. 

Upon these principles, if a person is suffering under an ha- 
bitual disease, which resists medical treatment and threatens to 
shorten life, a more reasonable proposal could not be made 
than for him to remove to a situation where the bulk of the 
inhabitants had been observed to enjoy the best health, and to 
attain the greatest longevity. The ancients, as we are informed 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 51 

by Vitruvius, inspected tlie livers of the animals of a country 
in order to judge of the salubrity of its soil and productions. 
They did not act without reason. But our authentic registers 
of mortality afford a still surer guide ; and I can hardly avoid 
wishing that they had been more frequently consulted for th' 
purpose. Such a measure would surely be more rational th., 
sending the sick all promiscuously to the sea, or, as Dr. Gre- 
gory has somewhere said, from one foolish watering place to 
another foolish watering place. In these things, however, 
fashion has been more powerful than principle ; and so it may 
be expected to continue. 

It is obvious, from many considerations, that the quantity of 
mortality is quite inconsiderable when compared to the general 
quantity of sickness ; though this is a subject on which it is 
impossible to form a calculation. Men are not always short- 
lived because they are unhealthy, nor is great and apparently 
very dangerous illness, in different stages of life, incompatible 
with arriving finally at old age.^ Little dependence, therefore, 
can be placed upon solitary observations with regard to the 
effect of particular habits, or modes of treatment. Few are 
duly qualified to form a just estimate of such things. I am 
apt to think that, in this respect, even the sage Cornaro de- 
ceived himself. It becomes then of the first consequence to 
view mankind as much as possible in the mass, and to obtain, 
as far as it is in our power, general results. 

If, in fact, it is established by such observations that our dis- 
eases are the offspring of our habits, and of the circumstances 
in which we are placed, it must follow that of those who are 
placed in the same circumstances, however various are the forms 
and external appearances of disease, there must be an absolute 
identity in its essence. This must, I think, be correctly true 
of all those diseases which arise, as it were, spontaneously in 
the habit, independently of accidental circumstances. Nor can I 
exclude from this class the acute inflammations which are com- 
monly regarded as a species of accident, produced by some 
foreign circumstance recently applied, as severe cold. The 
inflammations require a peculiar state of the constitution for 

* A remarkable example of this may be found in the Commentaries of 
the elder Heberden. " That very eminent physician, Sir Edward Wilmot, 
before he had completed his twentieth year, labored so severely under 
a consumptive disorder, that, as he himself told me, not only his relations 
but the most skillful physicians despaired of his recovery; he lived, not- 
withstanding, and enjoyed good health beyond his ninetieth year." — He- 
berden Comment arii, p. 324. 



52 VEGETABLE DIET 

their production, as well as an immediate external cause ; and 
they have their seat in various organs, according to the differ- 
ent time of life in which they occur. It is highly probable 
that when the acute inflammations prove fatal, the vitality of 
the system is destroyed, as it were, before the attack. Such 
persons should be considered, therefore, to be as completely 
worn out as if they had died of a lingering disease : of dropsy, 
or of consumption. 

In a system like that of the human body, consisting of a 
congeries of different organs, each independent, and endued 
with peculiar powers and actions, but each likewise connected 
with the whole, and conspiring to a common end, there can be 
no difliculty in comprehending how the same agents should, 
upon different individuals, produce dissimilar effects. Nature, 
or the supreme wisdom which has formed, sustains, and ani- 
mates the universe, seems to delight, if we may venture so to 
speak, in conjoining the -most admirable simplicity with the 
most astonishing variety. From a few elements, and which 
our ignorance probably makes more numerous than they are in 
fact, we see living beings, whether vegetables or animals, so 
diversified that human life is too short to permit us to become 
acquainted with their various forms and properties. Is it then 
improbable that a few agents should produce various effects 
upon the bodies of men — a race of beings no two of whom are 
alike, and of whom not one individual preserves an absolute 
identity for two successive days, or even for two successive 
moments ? A familiar example may render this truth more 
evident. How variously does wine affect different individuals ? 
One can bear two or three bottles, another is giddy with half a 
glass-full; one becomes jocund, another splenetic; one wakeful 
and sprightly, another heavy and sleepy ; one good-humored, 
another is driven to madness. What we see in the effects of 
wine, we can readily suppose of other agents. 

If this were a simple matter of speculation it would be of 
little moment. But I have dwelt upon it on account of the 
practical inferences to Avhich it obviously tends. If we can 
show that the antecedent causes of various diseases are the 
same, though the immediate symptoms may demand various 
remedies, yet the radical treatment may and ought to be the 
same, however opposite the apparent forms of the disease may 
be. This evidently is to remove the antecedent causes as much 
as it is possible. Then, if the radical and. inherent powers of 
the system have not been destroyed, it may be expected, if not 
wholly to recover, at least to show a constant tendency to 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 53 

recovery. In what deg-ree this can take place it is in vain to 
speculate, independent of experiment. Each case will have 
something distinct and peculiar. The bow which has been long 
bent will, w^ien the string is cut, tend to regain its straightness ; 
but it may ever retain some marks of the force impressed upon 
it. Suppose this bow to be the branch of a living tree, the 
result may be still the same ; but the cases w^ill be more parallel. 
When we say that the phenomena resulting from the action 
of the same causes must be deemed to be essentially identical, 
Ave must hmit ourselves to the strict terms of the proposition, 
and by no means conclude that no morbid appearance can arise 
in the body which may not be distinctly traced to such causes. 
It must be considered that an animal body is a machine en- 
dued w^ith internal and inherent self-moving powers, which it 
preserves, and which are in action as long as life continues. 
Changes take place from the operation of these inherent powers, 
which, if they are attended with pain, and a derangement of 
the ordinary functions, are considered as diseases. The teeth- 
ing of children is an instance of this. In like manner acute 
diseases may frequently be suspected to be natural processes, 
taking place, perhaps, in morbid bodies. In the present state 
of our knowledge, and the great obscurity in which these sub- 
jects are involved, as it would be the height of presumption to 
affect to explain all the phenomena of life, so w^ould it be cap- 
tious and uncandid to object every accidental and unforeseen 
occurrence. We must content ourselves wdth approximating to 
what appears, upon the whole, to be the truth. Anomalies 
and difficulties must be expected to arise which, perhaps, we 
may never be able to elucidate ; and the expHcation of which 
must be left to time and the industry of future inquirers. 

These few remarks, which appear naturally to follow from 
the facts established with regard to the laws of human mortali- 
ty, may be sufficient to render probable the general principle, 
that the efficient causes of constitutional diseases and premature 
death are to be souQ-ht for in the action of the substances which 
are applied to and affect the body. But to gain useful infor- 
mation we must enter into a more particular examination of 
what these reall}^ are. 

Now any substance whatever which produces a change either 
in the composition, in the sensations, or in the motions of the 
body ; in a word, which affects it as a living system, may be 
justly called an agent, and as such must conspire toward the 
general result either of healthy or diseased action. As such, 



54 VEGETABLE DIET 

the effect of all such matters, of every kind, ought to be taken 
into the account, and their action distinctly considered. But 
this is a task, the proper accomplishment of which cannot at 
present be hoped for. Man, in the wantonness of power, or 
under the caprices of appetite, makes almost every thing he can 
lay his hands on subservient to his real or artificial wants. We 
must therefore of necessity confine ourselves to those agents 
which are most universally applied, and which appear to be the 
most effective. 

With regard to the generation of constitutional diseases, we 
may, I think, safely confine ourselves to four principal agents. 
These are, 1st, impure air; 2d, impure water; 3d, improper 
aUment ; and, 4th, fermented liquors. These ar« the things 
which appear really and effectively to produce the great bulk 
of the reigning diseases, or at least to form the morbid consti- 
tution out of which these diseases spring. I always except 
those which are produced from contagions. Each of these 
agents is of itself, perhaps, under certain circumstances, power- 
ful enough to produce disease, and even death ; and very com- 
monly men are exposed to them simultaneously. In a system- 
atic treatise each ought to be separately considered. But as 
my own immediate object is principally to confirm the pro- 
priety of the treatment I myself proposed in constitutional dis- 
ease, I must confine myself to what I deem more directly con- 
nected with this end. On air I have nothing to say. On water 
I have nothing further to add to what I have already laid before 
the public. Some observations on the utility of vegetable regi- 
men, the mischiefs of the regimen in common use, and a few 
remarks on fermented liquors, is all that I propose to add to 
the introductory part of my present undertaking. 



CHAPTER V. 



The power of Habit. — Diseases exasperated by a full diet. — Illustrations 
of the beneficial effects of abstemiousness. — Dr. Barwick. — Francis 
Pechi. — Wood, the miller of Billericay. — Apologie du Jeune. — Estimate 
of the powers of Vegetable Regimen. 

However pernicious any substance or application may be, we 
find that use in a certain degree reconciles us to it ; that which 
was at first offensive may become at length agreeable ; and 
what was at first manifestly injurious may become apparently 



IN CUKUNIC DISEASES. 55 

indifferent, or even salutary. Such is the influence of habit, by 
which the constitution is rendered insensible of constant irrita- 
tions, if they possess only a moderate degree of force ; and a 
craving or appetite is formed for things hurtful in themselves 
and most foreign from our proper nature. But this habit, if 
considered in the body itself, must consist of a series of motions 
and actions, the seat of which is the sensorium ; which motions 
must have an opposite direction to, and so counteract the effect 
of the irritating cause. In this way only, according to the known 
properties of the nervous system, is the power of habit con- 
ceivable. But however it be, the body must be under the con- 
stant influence of a foreign and external force ; this force must 
subvert the natural actions of the system, and warp them from 
their proper objects, which must ultimately produce effects 
proportionable to the magnitude and duration of the irritations 
applied. 

We deceive ourselves, then, if we think that any thing which 
is wrong in itself can be made right by habit, or that what is 
hurtful, if done seldom, will become innocent by being con- 
stantly repeated. By this repetition we may become insensible 
to the momentary irritation, but only to suffer with the more 
severity ultimately.* 

The use of animal food is one of these habitual irritations to 
which most persons, who have it in their power, voluntarily sub- 
ject themselves. Nothing need be said to show that this cus- 
tom produces a great change in the system in its ordinary state 
of health. This is a change which, as long as health continues, 
is commonly thought to be for the better. But omitting wholly 
that consideration, it seems certain that it predisposes to dis- 
ease, and even of those kinds the immediate origin of which 
may be traced to other causes. 

It has been observed that the laboring negroes of the West 
Indian islands are almost wholly exempt from the scourge of 
the yellow fever, which has cut oft' such numbers of the other 
classes of the residents. Upon this observation it was pro- 
posed, when the same disease invaded Philadelphia, and was 

* It may be observed, that when by habit we have conquered any 
dislike or formed any appetite for any substance, however unnatural, the 
dislike does not appear to return by relinquishing the habit. Tobacco is 
at first abominable; but let a man once become fond of it, the relish will 
continue for life. He may cease to smoke or to take snuff, because ha 
thinks it wrong or hurtful ; but the original disgust never returns. ^ So it 
is of olives, fermented liquors, and other things. This shows the impro- 
priety of giving children wine, or any thing else which it would be better 
that they should never like. 



56 VEGETABLE DIET 

thought contagious, to employ negroes to attend the sick. But 
here it was found that negroes were some of those who were 
the most subject to the disease. The principal cause of this 
difference is said, by the physician on whose authority I relate 
the fact, to be, that in Philadelphia the manner of living of 
negroes was as plentiful as that of white people in the West 
Indies; the reverse of which is known to be the fact in the 
islands. 

For the same reason, of living much more upon vegetables, 
and being more sparing of fermented liquors, the French are 
known to have suffered much less from the ravages of yellow 
fever than the English, who use the same diet to which they 
had been accustomed in northern reo-ions. Somethinor of the 
same kind has been observed with regard to the plague at Con- 
stantinople. Timoni, in his account of this disease, asserts that 
the Armenians, who live chiefly on vegetable food, were far 
less disposed to the disease than other people.^' 

I have little doubt, from what I have observed durinsr the 
course of my own practice, that the common contagious, or, as 
it is called, the typhus fever of this country is greatly exaspe- 
rated by full living. This fever rarely attacks persons in the 
better lines of hfe, obviously because they are little exposed to 
the exciting causes of it. But when they suffer it is very apt 
to be fatal. Several medical students have been cut off (I 
speak of what happened some years ago), both in London and 
Edinburgh, under the care of the best ph3^sicians of the coun- 
try. But among paupers, and in the workhouses, the danger 
is, commonly speaking, very little, and they recover readily in 
circumstances under Avhich it is probable that those who are 
called their betters Avould have sunk.f 

* The Greeks in Smyrna, during Lent, Howard tells us in his work on 
Lazarettos, page 41, edition of 1792, at which time they ate only vege- 
tables, were very seldom attacked with the plague, while among those who 
ate flesh the contagion made great havoc. — S. 

t "If Scotland," says Moore, " is less subject to 'pestilence, it is more 
exposed to /a?ra^■ne, than England." 

It is stated by Dr. Rush, that during a desolating fever at Leghorn, 
" Of the beggars who had scarcely any thing to eat, and who slept half 
naked every night upon hard pavements, not one died.^^ 

" It is a full rather than an empty stomach," says Dr. Paine, " that aids 
in breeding pestilence. And we may affirm, upon the broad ground 
of experience," this author further remarks, " that he will enjoy the best 
chances of escape who renounces a stimulant diet while his system may 
be only in a state of morbid predisposition. It was upon this ground that 
the beggars in Italy escaped; why Audubon and his party enjoyed tho 
fullness of health in the jungles of Florida." — S. 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 57 

It seems, moreover, highly probable that the power inherent 
in the living body, of restoring itself under accidents or wounds, 
is strongest in those who use most a vegetable regimen, and 
who are very sparing in the use of fermented liquors. This 
has been observed among the eastern nations. Sir George 
Staunton says on this subject : *' It is, however, to be remarked 
that the Chinese recover from all kind of accidents more rapidly, 
and with fewer symptoms of any kind of danger, than most peo- 
ple in Europe. The constant and quick recovery from consi- 
derable and alarmino- wounds has been observed likewise to 
take place among the natives of Hindostan. The European sur- 
geons have been surprised at the easy cure of sepoys in the 
English service, from accidents accounted extremely formid- 
able." This felicity the relator attributes to the causes which 
I have mentioned. I have received the same account from 
other quarters. 

These facts are enough to induce a suspicion that our dis- 
eases are much exasperated by our manner of living, and the 
full diet of animal food, to which we are habituated. They 
may serve to show to what may be ascribed in some degree 
the great difference betAveen the mortality which prevails in 
great towns and in the country. In all situations the mass of 
this mortality must be composed of the laboring classes. These 
classes are allured to the cities by the temptation of high wages, 
which are expended, partly in direct riot and excess, but even 
by the most sober-minded in procuring for their families a more 
luxurious mode of life than could be afforded by the customary 
rate of wages in the country. A daily meal of meat becomes 
to be thought necessary by persons who, in the countr}^ must 
have been contented with a scanty portion once a week. To 
be able to procure this becomes a distinction in society which 
the people are taught to look up to as the reward of industry ; 
while to be confined to what is called a poo?' diet, that is to say, 
to the diet of the poor, is reckoned low and disgraceful. Be- 
sides, the crowding together a number of persons in confined 
and ill-ventilated habitatiojis favors the generation or the diffu- 
sion of a number of contacjions. But these contamons act 
with greater virulence upon bodies pampered by a full diet of 
animal food. Thus do these places become a species of hot- 
beds, in which the seeds of mortality are thickly scattered in 
the soil most favorable to their growth and propagation. The 
bodies of men are most corrupted ; the powers of life most en- 
feebled by destructive and enervating habits ; moreover, pu- 
tridity of all kinds, both of animal and vegetable matters, and 
3* 



58 VEGETABLE DIET 

contagions of all kinds, are in such situations collected and 
accumulated. In a word, in great cities all the causes of mor- 
tality are concentred. 

One would be apt to imagine, from the common practice of 
most of our physicians, and still more of our medico-chirur- 
geons, that excess and intemperance were the regular methods 
of curing diseases. They have been laboring, during almost 
the whole of my medical life, to prove to the public that the 
doctrines of abstemiousness, inculcated by several of our pre- 
decessors, are a mere prejudice and error. In almost all chro- 
nic diseases, to forbid the use of vegetables is a part of the 
established routine. If there be a little heart-burn or flatu- 
lency, all vegetables are instantly proscribed. Infants, even, 
are loaded with made dishes, and their breaths smell of wine 
and strong liquors. Nay, to such an extent are these abomina- 
tions carried, that, when their stomachs revolt against these 
unnatural compounds, with instinctive horror, and the impor- 
tunities of nature cannot be Avholly resisted, a little fruit is held 
out to them as a sort of premium, and as a reward for forcing 
down the nauseous farrago which they loath. 

Notwithstanding the prevalence of these abuses and absurd- 
ities, and the pertinacity with which they are defended, no 
truth is better established than the fact, that multitudes of 
valetudinarians have been restored to health by methods di- 
rectly the reverse of those recommended by these practitioners. 
Many have been the examples of persons v/ho, having been re- 
duced from affluence to poverty, and forced to subsist upon 
hard fare, and to gain their livelihood by daily labor, have ex- 
chanored for their useless riches the inestimable treasure of 
health. Nor have instances been wanting, in which the con- 
strained abstinence of a prison has proved a remedy for some 
obstinate disease. 

Dr. Cheyne has given us a history of this sort. " Dr. Bar- 
wick tells us," says he, *' in the life of his brother, who, in the 
late civil wars, had for many years been confined in a low room 
in the Tower, during the usurpation, that, at the time of his 
going in, he was under a phthisis, atrophy, and dyscasy, and 
lived on bread and water only several years there, and yet 
came out at the restoration, sleek, plump, and gay." 

Ramazzini has recorded the histor}'^ of a man who lived in 
prison for nineteen years upon bread and water only, and lived 
afterward healthy and free from the gout, from which he had 
before been a great sufferer. 

In Schenk's collection, the following amusing story of the 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 59 

same description is found : *' The noble Francis Pechi — when 
he had mounted his mule, to dispatch some commissions of 
our illustrious duke — a man of fifty, gouty, and much oppressed 
with the continual torments of this disease, was secretly thrown 
into prison by a certain marquis, his wife, only son, and other 
people thinking him dead. In the year 155G, after a lapse of 
twenty years, he was found by the French, who took the cita- 
del, and to the astonishment of all the inhabitants of Vercelli, 
preserved like Lazarus from the tomb, he walked through the 
city, with his sword by his side, without stiffness of his joints, 
without the aid of a stick. He thus escaped all the misery 
of the gout by means of a slender diet, imposed on him by 
his jailers ; and finding his wife and son dead, he began to 
claim his houses, farms, and other property, which had 
been sold, and were of great value. In diet, therefore, is the 
medicine." 

Cures, which appear almost miraculous, have been at all 
times related concerning the most intractable diseases, with a 
confidence that should awaken our attention, if it do not over- 
come our incredulity. The elephantiasis was the disease which 
the ancients held in the greatest horror : the miserable victims 
were deserted by their nearest friends, and banished to the 
wilderness, there to perish in solitude. Aretceus has recorded 
that some of these sufferers Avere reported to have been re- 
stored, nature renewing the parts which had been destroyed by 
the disease and thrown out of the system. On these cases it 
is well remarked by Cocchi, that '' Ave should not believe that 
their cure proceeded from their having eaten vipers, as the ac- 
count relates, but rather from their total abstinence from animal 
food, and a continual use of herbs, as more powerful philoso- 
phical reasons induce us to believe." 

The former prevalence of leprous diseases throughout Eu- 
rope, which occasioned the institution of lazar houses for the 
reception of the loathsome objects afflicted by them, may make 
us suspect that such accounts are not w^holly fabulous. The 
leprosy is nearly extinct, and the lazar houses have fallen to 
decay, owing, no doubt, to the improvements of agriculture. 
We have a remarkable instance of the effects of diet on the dis- 
eases of a nation, in the inhabitants of the isles of Ferro. Since 
fishing has declined among them, and the inhabitants have cul- 
tivated corn, and live upon other food, instead of whales' flesh 
and bacon, the elephantiasis has ceased among them. Galen 
ascribes the prevalence of elephantiasis, among the poor inha- 
bitants of Alexandria, to similar causes, namely, the habitual 



60 VEGCrABLE DIET 

use of salted meats. The species of animal was little regarded ; 
amoHg others, they did not disdain the flesh of the ass. 

Need I cite the well-known history of Mr. Wood, the miller 
of Billericay ? This man, from a long course of gluttony, eat- 
ing voraciously animal food three times a day, with large quan- 
tities of butter and cheese, and drinking strong ale, became 
very fat in his fortieth year ; and, in three or four more years, 
his health failed ; he had a constant thirst, great lowness of 
spirits, violent rheumatism, and frequent attacks of gout. He 
had two fits, which were called epileptic, and had often a sense 
of suff'ocation, particularly after his meals. By altering his re- 
gimen, and pursuing a strict course of abstemiousness, he 
re-established his health, and continued to enjoy good health 
for many years. He left off animal food and fermented liquors. 
His solid food Avas either sea biscuit, or flour made into a pud- 
ding, being mixed either with skimmed milk or with water, and 
boiled. He abstained from all fluids, except what entered into 
the composition of his pudding. Under this course of absti- 
nence, he lost his corpulence, and became a middle-sized man, 
healthy and active, and his strength increased instead of di- 
minishing. This man died in his sixty-fourth year. No one 
that reads his history can doubt that he prolonged his life many 
years ; and, probably, had his diet been regulated upon still 
more correct principles, he would have lived several years 
longer. 

That longevity is promoted by vegetable regimen is estab- 
lished by the concurrence of numerous and authentic observa- 
tions. Ulloa testifies that of the South American Indians both 
sexes afford many instances of remarkable longevity. " I my- 
self," says he, " have known several who, at the age of a 
hundred, were still very robust and active, which unquestiona- 
bly must, in some measure, be attributed to the constant same- 
ness and simplicity of their food." Humboldt's testimony, as 
to their longevity at the present day, is to the same purpose, 
except that many cut themselves off by the use of spirituous 
liquors. He says, ''While I was at Lima, the Indian Hilario 
Pari died at the village of Chiagata, four leagues distant from 
the town of Arequiga, at the age of 143." 

It is the mountainous and barren districts, where frugality 
and simplicity of manners are the necessary habits of the bulk 
of the community, that have ever been the favorite abode of 
health and longevity. ** Upon the general and particular sur- 
veys already made," says Sir William Temple, ** it may seem 
that the mountainous barren countries are equally the scenes 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 61 

of health and long life ; that they have been rather in the hills 
of Palestine and Arcadia, than in the plains of Babylon or of 
Thessaly ; and among us in England, rather upon the Peak of 
Derbyshire and the heaths of Staffordshire, than in the fertile 
soils of other counties that abound more in people and in riches." 
Examples of great and extraordinary longevity have been 
chiefly confined to peasants of the lowest order of society ; to 
philosophers, who have thought that the truest wisdom consists 
in the regulation of the passions and the appetites ; or hermits 
and anchorites, who practiced great abstemiousness as a re- 
ligious duty. 

That the members of those monastic orders, who abstained 
from the flesh of animals by the rules of their institution, en- 
joyed a longer mean term of life in consequence, has been 
proved by the result of an actual examination. This fact is 
well established by the author of an interesting tract, published 
at Geneva, in 1789, entitled Aj^olo^ie du Jeune. As this tract 
appears to furnish some important and instructive matter, I am 
sorry that my own knowledge of its contents is derived from 
the scanty details of a medical journal. From this source, how- 
ever, I have obtained the calculation which seems sufficient to 
justify the conclusions of the author. 

This writer extracted from Baillot the length of the lives of 
152 monks (solitaires), or of bishops, who used the same austere 
mode of hfe. He took them promiscuously, as they were pre- 
sented, in all times, and in all sorts of climates. They produced 
a total of 11,589 years ; and consequently they gave an average 
of seventy-six years and a little more than three months, which 
may be expected from a regimen confined principally to fruits, 
herbs, roots, etc. He took, in like manner, 152 academicians, 
half members of the academy of sciences, and half of that of 
Belles Lettres. They gave only 10,511 years, affording an 
average of sixty-nine years and a little more than two months. 
The ancient austerity, therefore, so far from abridging life, 
lengthens it rather more, upon an average, than seven years ; 
and the loner life of the anchorites was the effect of the fru- 
gality of their regimen. 

The difference between the ages of the seventy-six members 
of the two academies was only nineteen years; but in every 
stage of life the advantage was on the side of the monks ; there 
were fewer deaths, more numerous survivors, and an old age 
more prolonged, as appeared by noting the number of deaths 
in every successive ten years. 

The author of this account concludes with making what I 



62 VEGETABLE DIET 

deem a very just remark. ** It is not," be says, " the appa- 
rent disease which is the real cause of death ; but men die 
because the body is worn out ; the tone of the fibres is destroy- 
ed ; and the principle of motion fails. The obvious disease is 
the mask under which this condition is concealed." 

Nothing is indeed more true, than that previous to the attack 
of fatal diseases there may be commonly observed evident 
marks of an exhausted vitality. The signs of it are frequently 
sufficiently marked in the countenance ; or it may be observed 
in some feebleness of the vital functions : a change in the force 
of the circulation ; a failure of the breath, or some diminution 
of muscular power. Habitual diseases, which, for their pro- 
duction, require a certain energy of action, and strength of con- 
stitution, as gout, cutaneous eruptions, etc., disappear, and peo- 
ple vainly congratulate themselves, perhaps, that they enjoy 
improved health. The attack may be sudden and violent, but 
the predisposing state of the system has been formed slowly, 
and almost imperceptibly. So truly is it said by Hippocrates, 
** that diseases do not fall upon men instantaneously, but being 
collected by slow degrees, the)'- explode with accumulated 
force." 

Observations similar to those which this writer has made the 
subject of calculation have occurred at all times, and in almost 
every climate. It is perfectly well known to those who have 
resided in Hindostan, that the Bramins, who abstain most scru- 
pulously from the flesh of animals, attain to the greatest lon- 
gevity. 

From the calculation which has been given, we may, I ap- 
prehend, reason with tolerable correctness as to the effects that 
may be expected to result from a vegetable diet in incurable 
diseases, supposing no other change to be adopted. Accord- 
ing to the evidence produced, the system wears faster under a 
mixed regimen than under a vegetable regimen ; and at such a 
rate that those who would die under the former res^imen at 

O 

seventy, would, under the latter, reach to seventy-seven nearly ; 
that it is to say life is prolonged about one tenth. 

I am apt to think that this estimation cannot be very wide 
of the truth. For there are circumstances, on each side of the 
scale, which the author of the report would hardly take into 
the account. In the first place, men who live very abstemi- 
ously are, probably, as scrupulous in what they drink as in 
what they eat. It is likely then that these monks and religious 
men were, for the most part, water drinkers ; whereas the acade- 
micians hving in the world would, for the most pai-t, comply with 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 63 

the common customs of the world. Hence, then, the monks 
would have an advantage in addition to their vegetable regimen. 
On the other hand, these solitaires did not, probably, adopt 
their strict regimen till they had reached the period of manhood ; 
moreover, it is probable, that a perfect strictness in the vege- 
table regimen was not observed ; it hardly excluding the occa- 
sional use of fish, milk, and eggs, and other things, which, being 
deviations fronu natural diet, must, I conceive, abbreviate the 
term of life.* Ifeut, to assume the utmost latitude in favor of 
the vegetable system, we will suppose that persons who use 
the common diet might have their lives prolonged one sixth by 
confining themselves to vegetables alone. This will, I doubt 
not, be generally thought to be giving it advantage more than 
enough ; though, under peculiar circumstances, it may be really 
too little. In persons living very grossly, eating largely of 
animal food two or three times a day, the abbreviation of life 
will be proportionably greater ; such persons, perhaps, cutting 
off one fourth, one third, or even, perhaps, one half their days 
by their excesses. However, under common circumstances, 
the above-mentioned allowance of one sixth is, probably, abun- 
dant. 

Now, as the action is constant and uniform, this prolongation 
will belong equally to every portion of life ; and the same pro- 
portion may be applied to what we may call the complement of 
life, or that part of it which still remains unexpended. By an 
abstinence from flesh, then, we may expect to protract the 
periods of disease, though not to avert their fatal issue, and 
that in about the proportion stated above. If, for example, a 
j)erson who is consumptive might be expected to live a twelve- 
month, he might reasonably hope, by a vegetable regimen, to 
prolong his life about two more months or to live fourteen 
months. Such would, probably, under the vegetable regimen 
alone, have been the event of the case which I have described 
in my " Reports on Cancer," in which Mr. Abernethy gave his 
opinion that a twelvemonth was the utmost extent of life that 
he could hope for, but in which life was really extended to 
three years and five months ; and that under a treatment which 
was for some months essentially defective. A cancerous tumor 
is, under common diet, invariably fatal ; and the term of life, 

* Thus Mr. Pennant — " The Romish church permits the use of it (the 
otter) on maigre days. In the kitchen of the Carthusian convent near 
Dijon, we saw one preparing for the dinner of the rehgious of that rigid 
order, who, by their rules, are prohibited during their whole lives to eat 
Hesh." — Pennant's British Zoology, p. 119. 



' 64 VEGETABLE DIET 

which remains to a person who has a tumor of this kind, may- 
be conjectured with a tolerable degree of precision. Let us 
suppose such a person under common regimen would survive 
three years ; under a strict vegetable regimen, the same person 
may expect, from these data, to live about three years and a 
half. 

From this view of the subject, I think it is easily explained 

I how the vegetable regimen has fallen into a species of disre- 
pute ; and how impossible it is to obtain from ft, when the sys- 
tem is hastening toward dissolution, even a temporary respite 
from suffering. Let us make an assumption which is certainly 
quite extravagant ; but let us suppose that, other things remain- 
ing the same, life would be doubled by vegetable regimen. In 
the beo'innino' or middle of life this would be a momentous con- 
sideration ; but how would it be toward its close ? A man, we 
will say, is consumptive, and has but half a year to live. By 
the vegetable regimen, then, he would, by the supposition, live 
a whole year. But he would still during the whole period be 
a dying man; the symptoms might be less severe, but they 
would persist. And how much more evidently must this be 
the case if, what would doubtless be the real fact, life was not 
prolonged a month ? In these circumstances it can hardly be 
conceived that the patient should, as far as he could judge 
from his feelings, be sensible of any benefit whatever. And 
as no practitioner will pretend to so correct a judgment as to 
be able to fix, in these circumstances, and foretell death within 
three or four weeks, the advantage gained, though real, would 
elude the observation of the medical attendants quite as much 
as that of the patient. 

It is no wonder, then, that while vegetable regimen has been 

> confined to cases of this kind, persons should be insensible of 
its advantages. The most strenuous advocates for a vegetable 
regimen have been some solitary indi\iduals in common hfe, 
living commonly in a confined circle, and acting either from a 
regard to health or from a principle of conscience. The errors 
of such persons have in them something respectable. But the 
medical profession have, in general, held a different and even 

^ an opposite language. The reason clearly is the much more 
extensive observation which their profession affords them. 
This experience has presented to them diseases of all sorts, 
invading persons whom necessity confines to such a regimen ; 
and death taking place in all its forms. They must therefore 
have a full conviction that all the flattering prospects of avoid- 
ing diseases, held out by the enthusiasts of a vegetable regimen, 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 65 

are wholly fallacious. And as men are apt to fall into extremes, 
it is no wonder that a large portion of this body of men are 
insensible to its real advantages, and inclined to attribute mis- 
chiefs to it of which it is really guiltless. 

Under the influence of prejudices, grounded, I dare say, upon 
observations such as I have mentioned, a surgeon, who, from 
the extent of his practice and his standing in the profession, is 
justly called, I believe, the first of this metropohs, being told 
how little animal food Avas given to the children at Edinburgh, 
answered, " Yes ; but 1 find animal food is necessary to our 
London children ;" as if what was right in one place was wron^* 
in another, and that there is a real difference in the human 
constitution at London and at Edinburgh. When the first men 
of the profession use such vague language, and have such in- 
distinct ideas, can we wonder at the ignorance and prejudices 
of the bulk of the people ? 

Though there is no reason to question the fidehty of the 
writers who have given the histories which I have recited in 
this chapter, yet it is to be considered that they are rare occur- 
rences, and as such ought not to be allowed undue weio-ht. 
General conclusions must rest upon a firmer foundation ; facts 
should be both numerous and concurring. In individual cases 
circumstances may easily be omitted which would lead to dif- 
ferent conclusions had they been related ; and this may happen 
from error or precipitation without any intention to mislead. 

Gout is the disease in which abstinence from animal food 
has been the most frequently recommended, and with the 
greatest, but not with uniform success. It is generally ac- 
knowledged that the pi*actice alleviates the symptoms of the 
disease. Many single cases, of the good done by such a regi- 
men, have been related. A treatise by Dolce us, on the cure 
of gout by milk diet, contains several cases in which the se- 
verity of the disease was by this method much alleviated. In 
Dr. Starke's works is the following passage to the same pur- 
pose. 

" Mr. Slingsby has lived many years on bread and milk and 
vegetables, without animal food or wine ; he has excellent spir- 
its, is very vigorous, and has been free from the gout ever since 
lie began this regimen. 

" Dr. Knight has lived also many years on a diet strictly 
vegetable, excepting eggs in puddings, milk with his tea and 
chocolate, and butter. Pie finds wine necessary to him. Since 
he lived in this manner he has been free from the gout." 

But it has also appeared Uiat a great degree of atony and 



66 VEGETABLE DIET 

muscular debility has often succeeded to the more violent 
paroxysms of the disease. This is the evidence of Dr. Mead, 
Avhich, I doubt not, is correct. " In persons advanced in life, 
in whom the disease has been used to recur for a course of 
years, if it does not invade them at all, instead of the limbs, 
the internal parts are infected ; and, moreover, the limbs being 
deprived of their strength, they pass the remainder of their 
lives in a miserable state, which I have seen more than once in 
those who, contenting themselves with milk and vegetables, 
have abstained from all other food." 

I question not these facts. It is no reproach to the vegeta- 
ble regimen that it cannot effect impossibilities ; that it cannot 
restore a constitution worn out with age and disease. Nor are 
the evils described to be attributed to the diet, thouo-h vuls^ar 
prejudice might reason so ; and the representation of the writer 
seems to favor it, this series of symptoms being the customary 
course of the disease under every regimen. It is equally true, 
that in London, and perhaps every where else, many children 
will become diseased, and die, who are confined to vegetable 
food, other causes of disease being in action. But let observa- 
tions be made on a scale sufficiently large, and let an average 
be fairly taken, and there can be no doubt that the balance 
will be in favor of the abstemious in length of life, in diminu- 
tion of suffering, and in actual enjoyment. 

Excess of all kinds is followed by an instantaneous exacerba- 
tion of constitutional disease, as persons subject to gouty pains 
almost always experience. And where the very contrary effect 
is experienced, as may sometimes happen, it may be suspected 
to be owing to a degree of torpor introduced into the nervous 
system rather than to healthy action. 

Abstinence, on the contrary, without curing constitutional 
disease, assuages its violence ; it both protracts life and renders 
it more comfortable. 

A gentleman of about thirty years of age, while this chapter 
was in the press, informed me that he had formerly used ani- 
mal food two or three times a day. He had for some time suf- 
fered most severe pains of the head, so much as to confine him, 
during the paroxysms, to his bed ; and they gave him the great- 
est dread of their approach, which he could commonly foretell 
for two or three days. Moreover, he had a bleeding from the 
hemorrhoidal vessels, from which he had hardly any respite. 
In consequence of the inquiries originating with me, he deter- 
mined to confine himself wholly to vegetable food, which he has 
now done, I believe, between two and three years. For half a 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 67 

year the disease continued with unabating severity. But from 
that time it became much milder, and now it never confines him, 
and he hardly regards it. The hemorrhage also is greatly di- 
minished. The whole time it now occupies is not equal to what 
the intervals were formerly. He has perceived no loss of 
strength, and has determined, in consequence of the benefit he 
has received, to pursue in every respect the regimen I have re- 
commended in chronic disease. 

I have before me some papers written by a gentleman of 
Birmingham, of the name of Luckcock, which he liberally com- 
municated for pubhcation. But though the matter is creditable 
both to the benevolence and good sense of the writer, it is not 
such as I deem suitable to my object. I doubt not, therefore, 
that he will excuse me if I use only those facts which I think 
more directly conducive to that end. 

This gentleman had, in May, 1813, used a vegetable regimen 
for rather more than four years, prompted more by a principle 
of humanity, and a conscientious feehng, than a mere regard to 
health. He says that he never found the smallest inconvenience 
from the change, but that, on the contrary, he has rather in- 
creased in weight, and sensibly improved in health. On this 
subject he declares: "I confidently believe that I am taking 
the best means to enjoy life as long as it may continue. In 
this respect I do affirm that the last four years have been equal 
to any period between twenty and the present time, and cer- 
tainly better than the four years preceding the innovation.'* 
Mr. Luckcock's age was at this time fifty-three. 

It further appears that the writer, like most men of his time 
of life, was not entirely free from constitutional disease. His 
words on this subject are : " About fifteen years ago a slight 
hemorrhage made its appearance with me, and has gradually 
increased to a degree which, under less favorable circum- 
stances, might well excite considerable alarm, and it may even- 
tually be fatal." From this statement I conclude that the 
change of regimen has made no marked alteration in this 
disease. 

I repeat, then, that abstemiousness does not cure constitu- 
tional disease ; but it palliates, where to cure is obviously im- 
possible. Even in aneurisms of the aorta, or dilatations of the 
cavities of the heart, whatever good is possible must be looked 
for in a treatment founded upon analogous principles. Such 
was the practice proposed by Valsalva in these hopeless dis- 
eases. He enjoined repeated bleedings, and a spare diet rigor- 
ously persevered in ; and we are assured by Albertini, in a 



68 VEGETABLE DIET 

paper inserted in the memoirs of the academy of Bologna, 
*' that young persons treated in this way have, in some in- 
stances, been cured, and in others remarkably relieved; and 
that old persons, and those in Avhom the complaint was already 
far advanced, had at least found in this plan a more or less 
powerful obstacle to its progress, and a prolongation of life." 
Some examples of the utility of the practice are given in the 
work from which this extract is made. 

I do not think that an impartial examination of facts will 
allow us to attribute effects more favorable than those I have 
described, to the use of a vegetable instead of the mixed diet 
of common life, aided even by avoiding fermented liquors. They 
are, as I have said, prolonging life to a certain degree, and 
rendering disease more mild. But no instances have been 
given of the eradication of deep constitutional disease, where the 
symptoms were well marked and unequivocal. On the con- 
trary, such symptoms have been known to arise under a strict 
regimen of this kind, of which, in the sequel, I shall cite some 
examples. 

I know that very different opinions on these subjects are 
held both by practitioners and by the people. Persons who 
have for years used the common diet without inconvenience, 
say, that at some former period of their lives the}'' labored 
under severe and dangerous illness, for which they were en- 
joined to practice a rigid abstemiousness ; and to this practice 
they ascribe their recover3\ But I would ask, if the diet caused 
their former illness, how happen they to bear a recurrence to 
it without a recurrence of the symptoms ? It is clear, then, 
that they do not think their disease was caused by the mixed 
diet, but that there v/as some peculiar medicinal power in a 
temporary abstemiousness. And that British practitioners in 
general entertain similar ideas, is clear from the rigid absti- 
nence they enjoin in acute diseases, under the name of the anti- 
phlogistic rec/imen. In this respect, the English are said to be 
more strict than other nations. And it is thought that life 
itself is preserved by this strictness. 

Without at all disputing the propriety of this strictness — for 
I think it perfectly proper — I must doubt greatly its efficacy, 
at least as far as it claims to preserve life. For having seen 
severe attacks of inflammatory disease, where a regimen of this 
kind had been followed for months, and even for years ; having 
even suffered in my own person an exceedingly severe inflam- 
matory sore throat, when it had been followed very nearly two 
years, I cannot but ask what effect can it be supposed to have 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 69 

on the issue of siicli a disease, when resorted to only on the 
spur of the occasion, and continued for a few days, or it may 
be for a few Aveeks ? I question not, then, that their issue de- 
pends infinitely more upon the antecedent habits, than upon any 
effect of regimen during their invasion. And if this be true, it 
would seem that those foreigners who are much more sparing of 
animal food in their daily habits, but much less rigid than the 
English under illness, do not appear, in these respects, to be 
less enlightened than our countrymen. 

Under the influence of opinions, common to all British prac- 
titioners, of the great importance of the antiphlogistic regimen 
in inflammatory diseases, I myself proposed in a former work 
(Inquiry into the Origin, Symptoms, and Cure of Constitutional 
Diseases, p. 50). to render it more perfect, and, as I thought, 
more efficacious, by attending to the fluid, as much as to the 
solid matter used, and substituting pure instead of common 
water. And I still think that I reasoned right, supposing the 
common opinion to be just. But being now fully assured that 
the operation of regimen of all kinds is, as far as it regards 
the safety of the patient, exceedingly slow ; that the eftect of 
the ingesla (of any kind whatever), upon the issue of these dis- 
eases can, during the course of the disease, be hardly calculated ; 
and that a strict attention to the antiphlogistic regimen itself 
may tend to the comfort of the patient, but possess little or no 
influence on the event ; being, I say, assured of these facts, I 
think any more minute attention than what is commonly paid, 
would be frivolous and unnecessary. 

I can therefore pay little attention to the relations of the ex- 
traordinary benefits of vegetable diet, in persons who have 
afterward used, for a length of time, the customary diet of the 
country, without perceptible injury. If, in fact, disease be 
caused b}'' diet, if not the immediate symptoms, still the dis- 
eased state of the constitution is really attributable to this 
source, the constitution should improve by a change of diet, and 
either the same symptons, or at least the same diseased state of 
constitution, should recur upon relapsing into the former habits. 
Such only can be allowed to be a legitimate proof. In other 
cases, such as I have alluded to, the abstinence enjoined may 
have been beneficial, but the restoration to health must be con- 
ceived to have been due to other causes. 



70 VEGETABLE DIET 



CHAPTER VI. 

The objections to vegetable food : paleness and loss of flesh ; that the 
feeble require nourishing diet ; differences of constitution ; uneasiness 
from vegetables ; that eating flesh injures only by excess ; that it is not 
unfavorable to intellect ; that it has been found useful in disease. — 
How far liking justifies the practice. — Fish, milk. — The cookery of 
vegetables. 

In questions which must ultimatel37- be decided by experience, 
I know not whether it is necessary or useful to employ much 
time in argument. Perhaps to lay a simple statement of the 
facts before the public is the most proper and the most power- 
ful argument that can be employed. If, therefore, I consider 
shortly some of the objections which I have heard made to the 
use of a vegetable regimen, it is because I have thought some 
respect was due to the quarters from which they have pro- 
ceeded ; and still more to popular opinion, which, it is unfortu- 
nately too true, is vehemently adverse to it. 

The pallidness and shrinking of the features and of the whole 
body, which sometimes succeed the disuse of animal food, is 
apt to excite an alarm, and a fear of essential and irretrievable 
injury to the constitution. Let us consider how impossible it 
is that this should be otherwise, and therefore how little is to 
be apprehended from it. 

Animal food commonly gives a more succulent habit, a 
greater fullness, and, at the same time, a higher color to the 
face. It may be suspected that all the fibres become softer ; 
that the force of aggregation of the molecules which compose 
them is diminished. In the healthy, the high color of the face 
is not unpleasing, though coarse. In the lads in the service of 
butchers it may be observed the most distinctly. In others of 
feebler stamina it is an habitual flush. 

This color it is which most imposes upon superficial observ- 
ers. To see a pallid child or young person become more ruddy, 
from what is called better living, is a pleasure Avhich it is diffi- 
cult to resist ; and to observe the color fade from an opposite 
treatment, without alarm, requires a thorough confidence in the 
justness of principles, which the ignorant and the timid can 
hardly be supposed to possess. It ought, therefore, to be con- 
sidered what it really indicates. 

In fact, what can it indicate but an excitation of all the small 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 71 

vessels of the face ? This excitation cannot be supposed to be 
confined to the surface of the cheeks, but must extend to all 
the contiguous parts ; to the internal as well as the external ; 
to the parts within the cranium as well as the integuments ; in 
a word, to the organ which regulates and connects all the other 
organs of the body — to the brain itself. If, therefore, the use 
of animal food be an unnatural custom, its primary operation, is 
to give an unnatural excitation to the brain ; and all its conse- 
quences of improved color, increased strength, and even of ap- 
parently improved health, must be reckoned consequences of 
this excitation.* 

A further consequence is, that life is, in all its stages, hurried 
on with an unnatural and unhealthy rapidity. We arrive at 
puberty too soon ; the passions are developed too early :f in the 
male they acquire an impetuosity approaching to madness ; the 
females breed too quick ; processes which ought to be distinct 
and successive are blended together and confounded ; women 
who ought to be nurses become pregnant, even with the child 
at the breast ;]; finally, the system becomes prematurely ex- 
hausted and destroyed : we become diseased and old when we 
ouffht to be in the middle of life. 

After all that has been said, I can hardly be so misunder- 
stood as if I asserted all this to be, in fact, the operation of ani- 

* Professor Sweetzer, of this city, in his interesting work on con- 
sumption, remarks : " That if diet is superabundant and exciting, a ple- 
thoric and inflammatory state of the system will be induced, highly in- 
compatible with the equable and healthful play of the different functions, 
and tending indirectly to waste the energies of life. How often is it that 
fat, plethoric, flesh-eating children, their faces looking as if the blood 
were just ready to ooze out, are with the greatest complacency exhibited 
by their parents as patterns of health ! But let it be ever remembered, 
that condition of the system popularly called rude or full health, and the 
result of high feeding, is too often closely bordering on a state of disease." 
The good sense of these remarks must be apparent to every one who 
thinks. — S. 

t In all the cases of precocious menstruation — and I have known a num- 
ber — such as in w^hom this function has appeared at the age of twelve 
or thirteen years, there has been veiy free use of and a great desire for 
flesh meat. I have been particular in noticing this fact. 

I will admit that a very free use of milk, eggs, butter, salt, and other 
stimulants, might easily cause preocious puberty, without the use of 
flesh, especially in the hot-bed and unnatural life of cities. — S. 

t I have known more cases than one in the city of New York of flesh- 
eating mothers, of very feeble health, who yet have become pregnant, 
time after time, on an average of nearly every year, and each and every 
time after the first, while the child was yet at the breast. The undue 
stimulus of animal food has evidently a strong influence in these cases dl 
premature pregnancy. — S. 



72 VEGETABLE DIET 

mal food alone. All the habitual irritations appear to have 
similar effects on the body ; they stimulate to excessive action, 
which is followed by premature exhaustion. But I cannot 
doubt that such would be the operation of animal food alone, if 
every other cause of disease were removed. An experiment 
which, as I have heard, has often been made upon chickens, 
illustrates its general action on animal bodies.* They feed 
hens upon flesh, to make them lay eggs faster. Every thing, 
therefore, that has been said in favor of animal diet ; of its 
strengthening, and invigorating, and fattening, and so forth,f 
may be perfectly true ; and still the consequences drawn from 
these appearances may be false, and its use may be, notwith- 
standing, radically improper. 

Now, if a body be, to the senses, modified by the action of 
animal food ; if it be enlarged, and bloated, and reddened, it 
must necessarily happen that by its abstraction these effects 
must cease, and appearances the very opposite of these may be 
expected to take place, that is to say, the body may be ex- 
pected to diminish, and to condense, and to become paler. If 
the face be highl)'" colored or flushed, it may be expected to 
lose in a measure this appearance. A load of fat, which is but 
an incumbrance to its bearer, may perhaps vanish, and so the 
clothes may hang about the bod3^ But if neither this color 
nor this fatness be health, nor indicative of health, what is there 
to fear from the loss of them ? If, on the contrary, these ap- 
pearances are wholly morbid, we surely ought rather to be 
pleased than mortified that we have got rid of them,| 

* I need hardly say, of animals not by nature carnivorous. Chicken are 
probably, in some degree, omnivorous. Though seeds is their favorite 
food, they would, I suppose, pick up insects, worms, slugs, etc. 

t Mr. Malthus was, I have little doubt, deceived from not making this 
distinction. He says, " Even in Norway, notwithstanding the disadvan- 
tage of a severe and uncertain climate, from the little I saw in a few 
weeks' residence in the country, and the information I could collect from 
others, I am inclined to think that the poor \vere, on the average, better 
off than in England. Their houses and clothing were superior, and 
though they had no white bread, they had much more meat, fish, and 
milk than our laborers ; and I particularly remarked that the farmers' 
boys were much stouter and healthier-looking lads than those of the same 
description in England." If such a diet gave a more healthy race of 
people than one that v\'as principally farinaceous, all that I have said must 
be wrong. But the tables of mortality prove the contrary ; and, there- 
fore, these appearances of stoutness and good looks, in the younger part 
of the community, are not indicative of superior health. 

t That the mere loss of flesh, and, to some degree, strength — circum 
stances which must sometimes, though by no means always, occur — on 
commencing vegetable diet, are not necessarily unfavorable, is abundantly 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 73 

I cannot doubt that, as a general rale, it may be safely assert- 
ed that the florid are less healthy than those who have little 
color. An increase of color has been ever judged to be a sign 
of impending illn-ess. " If a man becomes fuller," sa3^s one of 
the ancients, **and better looking, and with more color than, 
usual, he ought to consider these blessings as suspicious." Our 
own vulgar, at this day, if told that they look much better than 
usual, regard it as a sign of approaching disease. How many, 
with what is thought the gloAv of health on their cheeks, are 
iuAvardly tabid ? How many on the verge of the grave, about 
to be cut off by an acute illness ? Every day gives such pain- 
ful examples of these truths, that I should be ashamed to urge 
them^ had I not heard even experienced medical practitioners 
refer to the fine color of the cheek as a proof of good health. 
The young lady who last gave occasion to this remark, has 
since, I believe, died of consumption. 

It seems very evident that our general manner of life tends 
to load the head, and give an unnatural fullness to the face. This 
has given us ideas both of beauty and proportion, which are far 
from just, as not coinciding with the most perfect specimens of 
the human form. It has corrupted even the taste of our paint- 
ers. I have heard from an eminent artist, that the custom of 
painting children with the cheeks enormously swollen is con- 
fined to the modern school ; that it was not practiced by the 
ancient sculptors or painters. Though a well colored and full 
face cannot be otherwise than pleasing, yet it may be often ob- 
served in union with a narrow chest, shrunk limbs, and a tumid 
belly. Many an anxious mother says of her child, that its face 
is the only part about it which looks well. Now if, in such a 
case, by any course of dieting — for medicine is wholly out of the 
question — we can strengthen the limbs, cause the chest to ex- 
pand, and the abdomen to shrink, we should hail these changes 
as signs of highly improved health. If then it should happen, 
at the same time, that the face becomes less full, and the color 
less florid, we ought certainly to reckon this fullness and color 
to be morbid, and as such be happy at the loss of it. 

It aftbrds no trifling grounds of suspicion against the use of 
animal food, that it so obviously inclines to corpulency. On 

proved by the success of the hunger cure, which I have seen practiced in 
Germany. If a person is losing bad flesh, which, under a properly re- 
gulated vegetable diet, must often be the case, he is certain of growing 
stronger again as he gets better muscle. Flesh is absolutely no criterion 
of health; nor is a temporary loss of strength any evidence that an indivi- 
dual is growing worse. — S. 
4 



74 VEGI TABLE DIET 

this subject the reasoning of Dr. Arbuthnot is unanswerable. 
" You may see an army of forty thousand foot-soldiers without 
a fat man, and I dare affirm that by plenty and rest twenty of 
the forty shall grow fat." Corpulency is of itself a species of 
disease, and a still surer harbinger of other diseases. It is so 
even in animals. When a sheep has become fat, the butcher 
knows it must be killed, or it will rot and decline. It is rare 
indeed for the corpulent to be long-lived. They are at the same 
time sleepy, lethargic, and short-breathed. Thus Hippocrates 
says, ** those who are uncommonly fat die more quickly than 
the lean." The monstrous and bloated form which the human 
body occasionally assumes, is a more pointed satire upon the 
customs which engender it, than any which can be conveyed 
by words. He that runs may read.* 

* This paragraph of Dr. Lambe's brings to mind a most barbarous prac- 
tice with which I became acquainted in Europe, a knowledge of which 
may be gained from the following extracts from my note book, written 
while in the old country : 

" I presume most persons have heard something of the process of fatten- 
ing geese for the purpose of enlarging their livers, which are considered 
by tlie eating and drinking gentry in the old country a great rarity. This 
business, revolting as it is both to the feelings and taste of a person of un- 
depraved appetite, is made a regular occupation in certain parts. Men and 
women both follow the art of thus fattening geese as their only means of 
getting a worldly subsistence. It is carried on principally in Belgium. 
The mode is as follows : Geese of a suitable size are nailed with their 
feet upon a board, a T-headed nail and a piece of leather being used for 
each foot. (I do not know whether women engage in this part of the 
operation.) The animals thus fastened are set before afire. This is done 
to cause a feverishness in their systems, through which they became 
very thirsty. Pots of milk are then set by them, of which they drink 
freely to quench the thirst. After this they are fed with a dough of 
Indian meal as long as they will eat. More is then forced into their 
throats, and pressed down their neck into the stomach. This is a prac- 
tice that requi)"es tact, otherwise the animals would become choked. 
After this ' stuffing,' as it is called, they are put away in a dark place to 
sleep. Three times in the foi-enoon, and the same in the afternoon, the 
geese are thus placed before the fire and fed. At the end of three weeks 
they have become so fat and stupid they are nearly on the point of dying. 
They are then killed to save them, their bodies being almost an entire 
mass of fat, with livers also fat and most enormously enlarged. With 
these are made the famous 'fat goose liver pies.^ 

"The best and most cos tly of these articles are made in Strasburg, to which 
city the livers are taken from Belgium. One liver, with a portion of 
fat pork, the whole being surrounded with very rich pastry, is sufficient 
for two pies, each of which ai'e sold in London and Pai-is at one pound 
sterling. The pie is transported in a circular box, about the size of a 
three-quart measure. We see many of these in the windows of the higher 
victualing shops and pastry establishments of Paris, and sometimes in Lon- 
don. Tliey are considered by many as being a great rarity. The poor 
and laboring part of the community cannot of course indulge in so de- 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 75 

I would not liave it supposed, however (as ignorance is apt 
to imagine), that great paleness, or great leanness, is a neces- 
sary consequence of a vegetable regimen. Mruj who are lea-n 
upon animal food thrive upon vegetables, and improve in color. 
I could cite numerous examples of persons perfectly well nour- 
ished, and not only enjoying, but having every external sign of 
perfect health, on a strict vegetable regimen. Mr. Luckcock 
gained a few pounds in weight by relinquishing animal food. 
He says that a young boy, a son of his own, upon the same 
diet enjoys excellent health. Mr. Lawrence, assistant-surgeon 
of St. Bartholomew's Hospital, in a twelvemonth increased in 
weight nine poimds, upon a vegetable regimen. Dr. A. P. 
Buchan, physician to the V/estminster Hospital, told me that, 
when a young man, he lived three years upon vegetables, and 
was never in better health. And I hear that there are four 
hundred persons at Manchester, who at tliis time abstain from 
animal food, influenced by religious principles, and that they 
enjoy at least as good if not better health than their fellow- 
townsmen. More particularly I have not been informed. All 
the notions of vegetable diet affording only a deficient nutriment, 
notions which are countenanced by the language of CuUen and 
other great physicians, are wholly groundless. They have been 
founded upon observations of its effects on great invalids. Such 
subjects may possibly shrink and become pale. It is enough, 
surely, if such persons can prolong their lives, though it may 
be at the expense of their looks. To exchange a pale face for 
a, premature shroud appears to me but a sorry bargain. 

I hear much gabble about giving people proper support, and 
am told that the feeble require what they call nourishing things. 
I do not think it worth while to insist upon perfect strictness, 
where the ultimate advantage is not likely to be great ; nor is 
it very politic in a practitioner to recommend with earnestness 
what it is probable will never be attended to. But we are here 
discussing principles. I would fain ask, then, whether it does 
not appear that these feeble and debilitated persons have not, for 
the most part, passed a day without laying in a plentiful store 
of these nourishinaf thino^s ; and whether havino- been nourished 
nito their present state of debihty, it is likely that they can, by 
pursuing the same methods, be nourished out of it ? I would 
ask the more reflecting and better informed, whether the Hip- 

sirable a kixury. I have thought the poi'k pie — a common thing in the 
eating-houses ot" New York — disgusting enough, but it will be conceded, 
I think, that in comparison with the fat goose hver pie it is quite a proper 
dish." — 8. 



76 VEGETABLE DIET 

pocratic maxim is not founded in truth, which declares : " In 
bodies that are not pure, the more you nourish them, the more 
you injure them ?" 

It is said that there are great varieties of constitution, which 
produce corresponding varieties of diseases, and that it is im- 
possible that the same regimen can be adapted to them all. The 
vulgar proverb is quoted, and, if I am rightly informed, by a 
gentleman who was an eye-witness of some of the facts con- 
tained in my " Reports on Cancer," that what is one man's 
meat is another man's poison ; and many exclaim, A vegetable 
regimen may do very well with some, but I am sure it would 
not suit me ; my own feelings tell me so, and what better guide 
can Ave possibly follow ? 

I shall consider these objections in their order. 

I have already said, that however various constitutions may 
be, diseases, wdth different and even opposite symptoms, may 
be in their essence identical. The variety of constitution is dis- 
played in the various and ever varying forms of disease, and in 
the irregular times at which they take place from infancy to 
extreme old age. The identity then is not in the forms and 
external sio-ns of disease. It must consist in some circumstance 
which is common to them all. This circumstance is a decay 
and final destruction of the vital powers. Perhaps there is no 
single and infallible criterion by which to judge of this decay. 
It may exist, though the organization of the body is perfect. 
It is not incompatible with great apparent strength and energy 
of action. The principle of life is not an object of sense, and 
we infer both its existence and its modifications from the phe- 
nomena of living bodies. Whether in its decay,*the loss of 
power be confined to the organ principally affected, or whe- 
ther it extend primarily to the whole body, it is not easy to 
determine. But that it is general and uniform throughout the 
whole system, seems to me, from many circumstances which I 
have observed, to be by far the most probable opinion. Its 
total destruction is the death of the body. 

If the gentleman who tells me that one man's meat is an- 
other man's poison, and who is so much better versed m the 
anatomy of the human body than I pretend to be, will show 
me in what I have mistaken when I have asserted that man is 
herbivorous in his structure ; if he can show that there is any 
radical difference in this respect among the individuals of the 
human species, I shall then subscribe to the doctrine that there 
is a radical divinity in human constitutions beyond what I have 
acknowledged. But till this is done, I must agree with a 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 77 

sprightly friend of my own, who says that the proverb justly 
interpreted means no more than that w^hat is meat for the pa- 
tient may, perchance, be poison to the doctor. 

The question of feeling may deserve a little more considera- 
tion, since it is apt to deceive persons of good judgment. The 
impulse or feeling of the moment is that which is naturally the 
immediate motive for action. What gives pleasure we naturally 
seek ; and we avoid what occasions uneasiness. And this seems 
so just and reasonable a ground of action that I can hardly 
doubt that, in a truly sound and healthy state of the system, 
we might safely trust to our sensations; that what is most 
agreeable would be most healthy, and what gives uneasiness 
would be also injurious. 

But it is obvious that we cannot safely argue so in a diseased 
system. In this case agents may neither produce their natural 
and appropriate sensations ; nor sensations inform us justly of 
the qualities of bodies. The same habit which has reconciled 
us to many unnatural and noxious substances has likewise given 
us a disrelish for those which are natural and salutary. Gas- 
sendi tells us of a lamb which, having been bred up on ship- 
board, refused to eat grass. We surely then cannot wonder 
that, having accustomed our stomachs to every thing which 
earth, sea, or air affords, we have obliterated our relish for 
simple vegetable food. 

It may very well be, therefore, that by habit animal food 
may cause no uneasiness on the stomach ; and vegetable food 
may have the very opposite effect. I can only say it is a great 
misfortune to have the feelings of the stomach so completely 
perverted. It may be that leaving off animal food may cause 
suffering and uneasy feeling. This a greater misfortune still, if 
the health require it. But it betrays a profound ignorance of 
the elementary principles of human nature to mention such 
things as serious objections to a vegetable regimen. 

The case of spirituous liquors, in which every child knows 
how to reason properly, is exactly parallel. I should be 
ashamed to dwell upon it if I did not know that, in fact, such 
objections have been strongly and effectually urged. I would 
ask, then, would any one listen a moment to a gin drinker who 
should tell us how warm and comfortable his morning dram is 
to his stomach, and how low and cold and flatulent he is with- 
out it? In like manner, no doubt, the subduction of animal 
food is withdrawing an accustomed irritation ; a strong, but an 
unnatural appetite remains imsatisfied ; a craving takes place 
which it may require a determined effort to subdue ; and it may 



78 VEGETABLE DIET 

take som< time before the old habits and old desires are com- 
pletely eradicated ; and before the stomach feels as well satis- 
fied with vegetable food as it did with the former fare. An 
additional misfortmie is that these depraved feelings and appe- 
tites are the strongest in the most diseased persons. By reso- 
lution, however, they may be conquered ; and gradually animal 
food, so far from being an object of appetite, will cease to be 
thought of. The very remembrance of it will be effaced. I 
must assert that, except uneasy feeling such as I have described, 
I have observed no ill consequences from the relinquishment of 
animal food. The apprehended danger of the change, with 
which many scare themselves and their neighbors, is a mere 
phantom of the imagination; the danger, in truth, lies wholly 
on the other side. 

But besides the uneasiness from the chano-e of habits, there 
may be consequent uneasiness affecting any part of the body. 
This may have various sources. If other causes of disease con- 
tinue to operate, such as putrescent water, or fermented liquors, 
which have power sufficient ultimately to destroy life, the source 
of this uneasiness is manifest. Moreover, diseased action con- 
tinues long after the antecedent causes have been removed. 

Parts imperfect in their primary organization, or rendered 
unsound artificially, may perish and be renewed. Newly-formed 
parts commonly possess feeble powers of life, in consequence 
of which they may again perish and be again renewed ; and 
this may take place repeatedly. In these processes we see 
many sources of uneasiness ; of suffering ; even of acute pain, 
however cautious men may be in their manner of living and 
attentive to the rules laid down for them. They may cause 
inflammations, ulcerations, suppurations, sloughings, and, by 
consequence, every sort of pain which is attendant upon these 
processes. 

Some of the uneasiness consequent upon the use of vegeta- 
ble food is due, as I have explained in another place, to the 
improvement of the senses, which follows the disuse of animal 
food, and the restoration of the natural sensibility of the nerv- 
ous system. This improvement is not confined to the organs 
of sense, but pervades every organ and influences every func- 
tion of every part of the system. The torpor, therefore, intro- 
duced by the animal food must be equally diffused over the 
whole system ; all the secreting organs, all the membranes, 
probably the whole of the vascular, glandular, and absorbent 
systems sufter under it, as well as the nervous system. Whe- 
ther each suffers independently, or the Avhole, in consequence 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 79 

of the union of every organ througli the medium of the nervous 
system, it is not worth while perhaps to inquire. But observa- 
tion shows that there is no organ of the body which, under the 
use of vegetable food, does not receive an increase of sensibility, 
or of that power which is thought to be imparted to it by the 
nervous system. The observation of this it is which has made 
me think it most probable that the decay and final destruction 
of the powers of life, in the diseases terminating in death, per- 
vades the whole body, though the principal apparent disease 
may be confined to a single organ. The same consideration 
shows that palsy is a condition of the system not confined to 
the muscles, or the organs of sense. There is no fibre in the 
body which may not be paralytic. 

Morever, there are many pains which persons suffer in the 
early or middle parts of life which disappear as they advance 
to old age. On this account there are those who are an excep- 
tion to the more common rule of old age being the season of 
infirmity and suffering ; on the contrary, they enjoy in age a 
uniform degree of ease and comfort to which they were stran- 
gers in the former part of their lives. Upon such observations 
must have been founded the maxim of Hippocrates, that " old 
men for the most part have less sickness than the young." I 
see not what reasonable explication can be given of these phe- 
nomena, except by attributing them to the different degrees of 
sensibility which the body is endued with during the different 
stages of its existence. From this cause the young suffer from 
impressions which the apathy and torpor of the old shield them 
against. I think it must be in the memory of every person in 
the m.iddle of life, that Avhen they were children the coldness 
of a frosty morning was infinitely more piercing than when they 
had arrived at manhood. 

Now this diminution of sensibility may be natural ; the neces- 
sary consequence of increasing years. As far as this is the 
case it cannot be deemed morbid ; and it would be absurd to 
expect to prevent or remedy it. But as far as we accelerate 
old age by depraved customs, or diminish our natural portion 
of sensibility by the use of deleterious substances, so far we 
may hope to recover it, in a measure, by adopting more salu- 
brious habits. It is possible, then, that under these circum- 
stances pain may arise in the system which may indicate the 
recovery of a portion of sensibility that v/as lost. Such pain 
ought to be deemed salutar3\ No one can question that to 
feel pain must be better than to be stupefied. Some illustra- 
tions and examples of this will be given in the sequel. 



80 VEGETABLE DIET 

These considerations show sufficiently how pain may be pro- 
duced in the system independent of the ingesta. They evince 
further that the production of pain or uneasiness may form no 
sohd objection against the propriety of the regimen recom- 
mended in chronic disease ; on the contrary, it may be an evi- 
dence of its beneficial influence. 

I have heard it said that the only advantage of vegetable 
diet is, that by it excess is avoided, and that it is excess which 
is alone injurious ; and excess of animal food is acknowledged 
to be more so than of vegetable. I answer, that the different 
effects of excess, according to the kind of matter employed, 
show an essential difference in the operation of these matters 
upon the body. Excess of vegetable matter produces only 
simple distension ; excess of animal matter, an insuperable 
loathing and disgust ; sometimes horrible nausea and serious 
illness. These matters then are essentially different, when first 
applied to the body. They are different, also, in their opera- 
tion upon all the fmictions. But of this enough has been said 
already. 

I cannot but think that the ancients, whether physicians or 
philosophers, who certainly understood much less of drugs than 
the moderns, had, to balance it, a far more correct knowledge 
of the influence of food upon the health, the morals, and the 
intellect. Socrates, Plato, Zeno, Epicurus, and others of the 
masters of ancient wisdom, adhered to the Pythagorean diet, 
and are known to have arrived at old age with the enjoyment 
of uninterrupted health. Celsus asserts, that *' the bodies which 
are filled in the manner of the athletce, (that is, with much ani- 
mal food), become the most quickly old and diseased." To 
the same purpose the poet writes — 

" Immodicis brevis est aetas et rara senectus." — Martial. 

The doctrine of Galen is, that " food which affords the most 
nutriment to the body, taken in excess, generates cold diseases." 
It was proverbial, that the ancient athletm were the most stupid 
of men. The cynic Diogenes, being asked what was the cause 
of this stupidity, is reported to have answered, " because they 
are wholly formed of the flesh of swine and oxen." Theo- 
phrastus says, that " abstinence restores the use of reason ; 
because eating much, and feeding upon flesh destroys it, and 
makes the mind more dull, and drives it to the very extremity 
of madness." In these passages, we find the general doc- 
trine very clearly indicated, that animal food diminishes the 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 81 

sensibility of the system, predisposes to diseases, and abridges 
life." 

If the sensibility of the nervous system is impaired, it must 
follow that every function which depends upon the protection 
and integrity of this system, must be impaired or deranged 
likewise. It is impossible, therefore, to suppose that the intel- 
lectual functions, depending immediately upon the brain, can 
be performed with proper freedom and clearness by persons 
habitually using a gross diet. In conformity to which, it has 
been always remarked that the southern nations, who live 
mostly upon light food, are more lively and spiritual than the 
northern, whose habits are opposite. We may observe this 
even in countries nearly under the same latitude, but where the 
habits of life are considerably different ; as when we compare 
the English with the French, or even with the Irish. 

The instruments of the will are subject to the same influence. 
When the nervous power is perfect, the muscular power will 
be perfect likewise ; when it is oppressed and benumbed, we 
may expect diminished muscular power, less agiUty, slower 
movements. Sir George Mackenzie observed this strongly 
characterized in the natives of Iceland, to whom the supply oi 
vegetable food is more scanty than in any other European 
country, Lapland, perhaps, excepted. His account is in 
these words : *' Our servants professed to be well acquainted 
with the country we wished to examine, and being young and 
stout, we flattered ourselves we should have little occasion to 
reproach them with laziness ; but we soon found that, like all 
otlier countrymen, they were systematically slow in their move- 
ments ; and that every attempt, either in the way of entreaty 
or of threat, to make them alert, was quite fruitless. Eveiy 
one who undertakes to travel in Iceland, must resolve to sub- 
mit with patience to the tardiness of his attendants." 

When it is said that the use of animal food '* drives the mind 
to the very extremity of madness," it must be understood with 
the same limitations as must be applied to all other constitu- 
tional diseases, that it does this in those predisposed to the 
disease. This predisposition is an original peculiarity of con- 
stitution; its essence escapes the senses, but its existence is 
matter of daily experience. It is equally matter of experience 
that animal food aggravates the disease. I shall cite in proof 
of this the testimony of Dr. Haliaran, whose opportunities of 
observation have been ample, he having been physician to the 
Lunatic Asylum of Cork, from the year 1789. It contains im- 
portant information on more points than one. He says : 
4* 



iA VEGETABLE DIET 

'' .t may be necessary to premise, that the unfortunate per- 
sonf> I allude to are, with very few exceptions, composed of the 
indigent and friendless idiots and insane of the county and 
city of Cork. It therefore has been wisely resolved that their 
common diet shall consist of the farinaceous fare to which, from 
former habits, they have been more accustomed. 

" It has been on many occasions a source of satisfaction to 
me, and to the governors at large, to find, in compliance with 
the necessary economy inseparable with the existence of so 
large an institution, that this simple fare has not only been 
proved fully competent to the comfortable maintenance of the 
great majority of persons confined there, but also on a dietetic 
principle more immediately suited to the prevention of those 
inconveniences for which aperient medicines must otherwise 
be in more frequent demand. There are some, it is true, whose 
previous habits of living render a diet of this description rather 
unpalatable, and among those may be ranked the incorrigible 
drunkard, whose excesses so often reduce him to this level, 
and to the necessity of accepting as the only indulgence the 
beverage of all others the most likely to correct his depraved 
appetites, and to restore him to an inclination for the natural food 
of man. Daily observation shows that these unhappy people, 
after having forced Nature from her fastnesses, will still, by be- 
ing obliged to submit to a strict observance of this ojjposite 
mode of living, regain their former cheerful aspect, and even 
from its salutary consequence gave evident proofs of return- 
ing intellect. 

*' There are certain seasons of the year," he proceeds, "when 
the humanity of the governors disposes them to extend to the 
poor people at the asylum a participation in the general festi- 
vity, and from the prevalence of established custom, I allow of 
it, as freely as circumstances do prudently admit, so far as a 
few generous meals of animal food. The consequences on those 
occasions have been uniformly the same, and so correctly anti- 
cipated are they, that the strictest precautions are invariably 
adopted to provide against the scene of uproar which is sure 
to follow. The sudden and unusual stimulus of animal food 
ma}^, therefore, very fully account for this disposition to riot ; 
it miq-ht be inferred that, had the indulo-ence been more fre- 
quently permitted, such an effect would not have been so very 
very remarkable. This may in part apply ; but the fact is a 
sufficient evidence that animal food tends strongly to the ag- 
gravation of insanity. It. also affords an additional argument 
in favor of a farinaceous diet, in preference to the admittance of 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 83 

animal matter, so long as there remains a prevalence of those 
appearances which denote the insane orgasm. It also can be 
ascertained that, on the first establishment of the institution, 
when the number within its walls was far inferior to the pre- 
sent, and when of course the funds were more competent, and 
the regular allowance of animal food stood for once a week, 
that then, in like manner, the effect among the insane was pre- 
cisely what it now is known Jio be, when produced by a similar 
cause, at two or three festivals within the year."* 

This evidence is highly important, whether considered either 
negatively or positively. We will examine it in each point of 
view. 

First, it afifords very decisive evidence (if it were wanting) 
that avoiding animal food and fermented liquors will neither 
prevent nor cure insanity. Such was the customary diet of the 
great body of these patients ; and though the abuse of distilled 
sphits is assigned as having an active share in the increased 
frequency of insanity, it is neither pretended, nor is it all hkely, 
that this abuse was universal. Pinel has related the case of a 
young man, " an inflexible disciple of Pythagoras in his system 
of diet," who became subject, first to deep hypochondriacism, 
and, finally, to total insanity. In no long time he died. On 
this point, then, there can be no doubt ; and insanity must be 
reckoned among the diseases which cannot be avoided, much 
less cured, by the strictest adherence to the established rules of 
temperance and abstinence from animal food. 

But it is equally clear, on the other hand, that both the use 
of animal food, and still more of fermented liquors, aggravates 
and exasperates the disease. On this point the evidence of Dr. 
Hallaran is decisive ; and it ought to be attended to in our 
English establishments, and a proper practice enforced by law. 
In all of them both the one and the other are allowed to a lai-ge 
extent, and in some with little or no restriction. I myself have 
seen a lunatic, a gross, fat man, in one of our largest private 
establishments, with boiled beef, porter, and a bottle of wine 
before him. It is high time that these abuses should be done 
away. Probably many might be restored to reason without 

* Dr. William Saunders Hallaran, on Insanity, p. 93, etc. I have seen 
the facts related by Pinel on the deplorable consequences of a scanty and 
insufficient nutriment on the patients of the Bicetre, cited in opposition to 
Dr. Hallaran's testimony. (See Pinel on Insanity, p. 209.) But the mis- 
chiefs described by Pinel were not from farinaceous food, but from a de- 
ficient quantity of any kind. Indeed, he says expressly, that the reduc- 
tion which took place, and which did so much mischief to the poor peo- 
ple, was in the daily allowance of brsad. 



84 VEGETADLE DIET 

any further measure than a strict enforcement of temperance 
and abstinence. All certainly can not. 

There can be no doubt, then, that animal food is unfavorable 
to the intellectual powers. In some measure this effect is in- 
stantaneous, it being hardly possible to apply to any thing 
requiring thought after a full meal of meat ; so that is has been 
not improperly said of the vegetable feeders, that with them it 
is morning all day long. But its effect is not confined to the 
immediate impression. As well as the senses, the memory, the 
understandinof', and the imao-ination, have been obsen'^ed to 
improve by a vegetable diet. 

Notwithstanding those palpable and well-known observations, 
I see it is asked, in a tone of triumph, Whether it is possible 
that the species of food which has formed a Fox and a Pitt, 
can be unfavorable to the production of talent ? Why did not 
the writer (see Dr. Rees's Encyclopedia, Article Man) who has 
used this argument carry it to its full extent, and prove that a 
plentiful use of the bottle does not injure the intellect? For it 
is well known that one of those illustrious men indulged very 
freely in his daily potations ; nor was the other, I believe, re- 
markable for his temperance.' But was it ever asserted that 
the use of animal food absolutely extinguished talent, and re- 
duced all men to idiotcy ? or that it affected all alike, so that 
no difference of talent can be observed among those who use 
it? Animal food, it is obvious, excites and stimulates for a 
time the whole nervous system ; and as some under its influence 
are able to perform prodigious feats of strength, so others may, 
perhaps, be excited to intellectual exertions equally gigantic. 
But such phenomena do not prove that animal food promotes 
either healthy strength, or healthy intellect.* 

I think it might be asked, with much more reason, how hap- 
pens it that the families of the whole body of the British nobility 
could produce but one Fox and one Pitt to head the conflicting 
parties of our senate ? how happens it that the same body has 
produced not one man, no, not one, who is the acknowledged 
inheritor of the talents of these illustrious statesmen? Not 
one ; though the prize of successful exertion is the most splen- 
did that can be proposed to honorable ambition — the offices, 
the dignities, and honors of the first empire of the world. 

* The habits of Milton, it is said, were what would be ordinarily 
termed austere. He was abstemious in diet, chaste, an early riser, and 
industrious. He tells us that a lyrist may indulge in wine and a freer 
life, but that he who woukl write an epic to the nations must eat beans 
and drink water. — S. 



IN CDRONIC DISEASES. 85 

Surely, a stronger proof cannot be given of the baleful and de- 
pressing effects of luxury upon the human character ; how 
much it benumbs the faculties and stifles the embryo genius ; 
how much it emasculates the spirit, and paralyzes the best 
energies of body and mind. 

I do not doubt that the great ornament of our island, our 
immortal Shakspeare, ate flesh daily. 'Nor do I see what this 
proves but that among all the flesh eaters the genius of Shak- 
speare was the most transcendent. But he, who understood 
human nature the best perhaps of all the sons of men, was not 
ignorant that luxury debased the intellect : for he said 

" Fat paunches have lean pates ; and dainty bits 
Make rich the ribs, but l)anker out the wits." 

Lovers Labors Lost. 

No one is ignorant that an increased portion of animal food 
is often prescribed in disease, as is asserted, with great success. 
I have already remarked upon what I deem this great abuse, 
and the fallacy by which it is commonly supported. I shall 
defer what I have to say of its alleged use in scrofula to another 
part of these papei's ; and shall here content myself with some 
observations on its supposed utility in diabetes, and one or two 
other cursory observations. 

The treatment of this disease by a rigid abstinence fi'om 
vegetables is said to have been first suggested by Dr. Home ; 
but the practice Avas introduced by Dr. Rollo, with the assist- 
ance of Mr. Cruikshank, at Greenwich Hospital, about the year 
1796. Dr. Rollo professed to have cured one case by this 
method, but in a second of lono-er standincr he failed. Hovv"- 
ever, the practice was for a time universally imitated, and vari- 
ous examples of its efficacy have been given. Many examples 
of its failure have also occurred. The method of treatment has 
been extolled by some as a most important discovery. One of 
Dr. Rollo's friends pronounced it to be " another triumph to 
the pneumatic physicians, which blends with it relief to human 
misery hitherto incurable." Dr. Latham has also spoken of it 
in his treatise on diabetes, in language equally warm. 

It must be observed, however, that various examples of this 
disease being cured or subsiding spontaneously have been re- 
lated by medical writers; and the methods employed have 
been occasionally the very opposite to this used by Dr. Rollo. 
Willis, who was the first that observed the sweetness of the urine 
in this disease, relates the case of the nobleman who recovered 
from it two or three times by a milk diet, and the use of some 



86 VEGETABLE DIET 

simple remedies. And as tlie disease has occasionally disap- 
peared under different modes of treatment, several different 
remedies have had the credit of making cures. Very lately, 
Dr. Warren has used opium in pretty large doses and with 
seeming success. Hence it is clear that no judgment can be 
formed of the real efficacy of the practice, of the number of 
patients really cured, from solitary examples of success. 

So little are the minds of medical practitioners made up with 
regard to the general utility of this practice, that Dr. Watt has 
still more recently proposed to treat this disease by a method 
exactly opposite to Dr. Rollo's, upon the alleged ground of 
experience, and has gained much celebrity by the work he 
published. His practice too has been imitated in some of the 
London hospitals ; I cannot say with what success. But that 
it has been imitated is proof enough of the unsettled state of 
opinion with regard to the best mode of treating this disease. 
It has been asserted (I cannot say at present by whom), that 
in several cases in which apparent cures have been made, the 
patients died soon afterward of inflammatory diseases ; a result 
which I think highly probable. 

Those patients who have perfectly recovered have afterward 
resumed the use of vegetable food w^ithout injury. Hence it 
must ever remain doubtful what share the temporary, and for 
the most part imperfect relinquishment of vegetables for a 
month or two (I believe more than this has been rarely done) 
had in the cure.* 

Many afiiicted with diabetes are at the same time deeply 
consumptive. The second patient treated by Dr. Warren was 
so, and, shortly after the apparent cure of the diabetes, died 
consumptive. Now it will not be disputed that for the con- 
sumptive symptoms a vegetable diet, or, at least, a vegetable 
and milk diet, is the most proper. Here, then, w^e are arrived 
at a practical reductio ad ahsurdum ; we ought to give the 
meat for the diabetes, and to forbid it for the consumption. 
Principles which lead to such incongruities can, I suspect, be 
never founded in nature. 

Still I think it must be conceded to Dr. Rollo and his imita- 
tors, that as far as diminishing the flow of urine and destroy- 

* In the Medical and Physical Journal for August, 1814, is a case of 
diabetes mellitus cured by animal diet, which was said to have been 
adhered to nine months. But the patient was not under the eye of the 
medical attendaiits, and therefore it is at least doubtful whether it was 
really observed as strictly as they imagined. It is very difficult to con- 
fine patients to vegetables ; but it appears to be still more so to restrain 
thera from them altogether. 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 87 

ing the formation of sugar goes, tlie practice recommended 
is very, if not completely, successful. From these experi- 
ments it appears to follow, that the pabulum of these symp- 
toms of the disease is furnished exclusively by the vegetable 
matter taken into the stomach, and that the use of animal 
matter checks the flow of urine, and gives it alkalescent quali- 
ties. But though these facts are conceded, it does not follow 
that the effecting these changes is doing more than conquering 
symptoms, whether to the benefit or to the detriment of the 
constitution is undecided. 

The different ejffects of vegetable and of animal food upon 
the urine are facts of great importance, and the consequences 
ought to be duly weighed. In confirmation of the conclusions 
of Dr. Rollo, I must assert, that, upon vegetable food, I have 
observed the urine to become at least double in quantity to 
what it had been upon a mixed diet ; and this happened con- 
tinuously for two or three years, or more, in a subject in whom 
there was no thirst, and whose daily consumption of liquids 
was less than half a pint. I have in many others made cor- 
responding observations. From hence I have been instructed, 
that it is the vegetable matter used, which principally supphes 
the urine ; that the urine will be abundant, with a copious use 
of vegetables ; and that there is no necessary proportion be- 
tween the quantity of urine and the liquid ingesta. If, there- 
fore, we wish to clieck the flow of urine, the most effectual 
means would be to imitate the practice of Dr. Rollo, to prohi- 
bit vegetable matter of every kind, and confine the patient 
wholly to animal food. 

Now this is the practice, which, in dropsical cases, is, in a 
certain degree, universally followed. We say that dropsy is a 
disease of weakness, and requires animal food, in order, God 
willing, to support the strength. But in general dropsy the 
urine is likewise scanty, which we commonly in vain attempt 
to remedy by diuretic medicines. Here, then, we have a second 
reductio ad absurdmn. Vegetable food is requisite to increase 
the urine, and animal food to support the strength ; into such 
strange inconsistencies and absurdities do our practices and opin- 
ions lead us ! 

Vegetable food in many dyspeptic persons gives pain of the 
stomach. On this account it is customary to restrict or forbid 
its use to such persons. It may be well for those, who recom- 
mend this practice, to consider the following facts, related by a 
writer who thought it reasonable and proper. This writer says : 

"I knew a lady so miserably afflicted with these painful affec- 



88 VEGETABLE DIET 

tions of tlie stomach, that she was often under the necessity of 
giving up every kind of vegetable food ; even the best fer- 
mented bread became uneasy ; so much so that her diet has 
been for Aveeks solely of an animal nature. I saw her once 
under these circumstances, when she had many symptoms of 
the scurvy, such as spongy gums, livid spots on her arms and 
legs, etc. At this time she lost one or two of her teeth ; but 
the indigestion wore off, and she ate pot herbs for some time 
without any inconvenience." — Potter, on Scurvy, 2^- 36. 

We see, then, that though this lady suffered less pain of the 
stomach from animal food, the abstaining from vegetables still 
injm^ed the system, and produced deep scorbutic symptoms. 
It is, therefore, highly probable, that this lady lost more than 
she gained by the plan she pursued ; and that it would have 
been better for her to have sutFered the pain, than to have pur- 
chased ease in the manner she did. 

It has been said, that the great fondness that men have for 
animal food is proof enough that nature intended them to eat 
it ; as if men were not fond of wine, ardent spirits, and other 
things, which cut short their days ; as if the Rus-sians were not 
fond of tallow ; the Esquimaux of train oil ; and savages (I 
might say, perhaps, some of our own vulgar) of blood, entrails, 
and all sorts of garbage, the thoughts of which sicken a civi- 
lized man. The raw and almost putrid flesh of the seal is the 
delight of the Pesserais of the Tierra del Fuego ; and of this 
the rank fat is to their taste the most delicious part. 

But those who think that a simple declaration of their liking 
a thing is a sufficient apology for the use of it, I would beg to 
consider whether it is not an argument that proves a great deal 
too much. A savage has been seen to gnaw a bone of a human 
body with just as much relish as we suck a bone of mutton. 
Forster says, *' In the province of Matto-grosso, in Brazil, a wo- 
man told his excellency, Chevalier Pinto, who was then gover- 
nor, that human fiesli was extremely palatable, especially if 
taken from a young person. And during the last dearth in 
Germany, a shepherd killed first a young person, to satisfy the 
cravings of hunger with his flesh, and afterward several more, 
in order to please his luxurious palate." Man's flesh, then, is 
as good as the flesh of the ox or the hog ; and the assertkin of 
Swift, on which he has grounded his " Modest proposal for pre- 
venting the children of poor people in Ireland from being a 
burden to their parents or country," is not only groundless, 
viz., " that a young healthy child, well nursed, is at a year old 
a most deUcious, nourishing, and wholesome food, whether 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 89 

stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled." Some animals devour tlieir 
own offspring ; and if we do not the same, it is not because 
tlieir flesh would be disgustful to the palate. 

Whether, therefore, the taste of animal food be naturally- 
pleasing to the organs of man, or not, is what I am wholly 
ip-norant of. But it is certain that our havino* contracted a 
liking for it is no proof of the affirmative ; no, not if there are 
infants who hke it, as soon as they see the light. Infants bring 
with them into the world the morbid constitutions and morbid 
appetites of their parents. The flexibility of our organs, by 
which we contract a fondness for thino-s indiff'erent and ofi*en- 
sive is, however, a quality highly useful, and, indeed, the 
source of much of our h-appiness. Men, in consequence, be- 
come attached to what is within their reach, and to that to 
which they are habituated; but not so much but that they 
have the power to change, if the circumstances of life render 
it necessary. But this blessing, like every other, may, by its 
abuse, be converted into a curse. 

Wretched are they who are so much enslaved to habit that 
they find it impossible to change. But there are an abundance 
of these wretched beings who would rather renounce their lives 
than forego a momentary gratification. Nothing is more com- 
mon in this very article of eating. And yet so artificial is the 
relish we have contracted for our food, that even in European 
countries we may find those who cannot bear what Englishmen 
are the most fond of. Mr. Hooker has related a curious in- 
stance of this strength of habit. In his journey through Ice- 
land, a beggar accompanied him on his way. Observing the 
miserable condition of this poor creature, he oftered him some 
food. But he says, " I was extremely surprised and mortified 
to find that this wretched being, who could scarcely crawl along, 
but who kept company with us some way on one of our relay 
horses, was not able to eat a morsel of the ship bread and meat 
which I gave him, so accustomed had he been to a milk and 
fish diet, and such a stranger was he to any kind of food essen- 
tially different both in flavor and hardness." 

JEamus quo diccit gula, was the answer of a very worthy 
fj'iend of my own, whom I in vain exhorted to change his regi- 
men. And it led him where he was evidently tending, but not 
very fast, when the advice was given — to the grave. 

My reason for objecting to every species of matter to be used 
as food, except the direct produce of the earth, is founded — as 
may be seen in my last publication — on the broad ground that 
no other matter is suited to the organs of man, as indicated bv 



90 VEGETABLE DIET 

his structure. This applies then with the same force to eggs, 
milk, cheese, and fish, as to flesh meat. The different salubrity 
of each article ought to be estimated by the different degrees 
of longevity enjoyed by persons, as far as it is influenced by 
diet. But to obtain any thing approaching to correct calcula- 
tion on such subjects is obviously impracticable. As far, how- 
ever, as I can form a judgment from a few facts picked up in 
the course of desultory reading, fish is the sort of food which, 
if made the principal article of sustenance, is the most unfavor- 
able to health and longevity. 

Fish is a kind of diet which the bulk of the people, who have 
been accustomed to other food, never use voluntarily as a chief 
article of sustenance. Servants, where fish is cheap, bargain 
that they shall not be forced to eat it more than once or twice 
a week. But it is for the most part with us scarce and dear, 
hence it is a favorite with the rich, who like whatever is of high 
price. But even with them it is the cookery which gives it its 
principal relish. 

Dr. Cheyne says of fish, " 'Tis always observable that those 
who live much on fish are affected with scurvy, cutaneous erup- 
tions, and the other diseases of a foul blood. And every body 
finds himself more thirsty and heavy than usual after a full meal 
of fish, let them be ever so fresh, and is forced to have recourse 
to spirits and distilled liquors to carry them oK So that it is 
become a proverb among those that live much upon them, that 
brandy is Latin for fish. Besides that, after a full meal of fish, 
even at noon, one never sleeps so sound the ensuing evening, as 
is certain from constant observation." 

These are not random and unfounded remarks, but are con- 
formable to many authentic observations. Fish does not impart 
the strength of animal food, but it is as oppressive to the stom- 
ach as flesh, and it is more putrescent, as may be concluded 
from the nauseous and hepatic eructations of the stomach after 
it has been eaten. 

I have already noticed (p. 59) the disappearance of incurable 

cutaneous diseases, in the isle of Ferro, by the substitution of 

ao-riculture to fishing. In Iceland the same diseases have taken 

• • • 1 

deep root, doubtless from the same cause, fish being a prmcipal 

part of the sustenance of the inhabitants. The following is an 

extract from Van Troil's letters, illustrative of this point : 

" You may ask, sir, how this disease (the elephantiasis) came 

to be so firmly rooted in Iceland, as it has so decreased in the 

south, that it has almost disappeared there ? I believe that 

this is not so much owing to the climate as to the manner of 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 91 

life and diet. People, whose continual occupation is fishing, 
are night and day exposed to wet and cold, frequently feed 
upon comipted rotten fish, fish livers and roes, fat and train of 
whales, and sea dogs, as likewise congealed and sour milk. They 
commonly wear wet clothes, and are exposed to all the hard- 
ships of poverty. The greater number of these are therefore 
to be met with in the lower class ; on the contrary, where less 
fish and sour whey are eaten, and more Icelandic moss (Lichen 
Islandicus), and other vegetables, this disease is not so preva- 
lent, according to an observation made by Mr. Paterson in the 
above-mentioned transactions." — Transactions of the Royal 
Sivedish Academy of Sciences. 

The recent testimony of Mr. Hooker is to the same effect. 
He says, ** The Icelanders in general do not attain to an ad- 
vanced period of life, though many live to the age of seventy, 
and enjoy a good state of health ; but this is among the higher 
class of people. Scurvy, leprosy, and elephantiasis are no where 
perhaps more prevalent; and they are likewise, according to 
Van Troil, peculiarly afflicted w^ith St. Anthony's Fire, the 
jaundice, pleurisy, and lowness of spirits." In another passage 
he testifies " that the elephantiasis is cured by the use of anti- 
scorbutic veore tables." 

A vulgar notion has been prevalent, that a fish diet is favor- 
able to the powers of generation, and that persons living on it 
are more than commonly prolific. But this opinion appears to 
be wholly erroneous. On the contrary, among such persons the 
increase of the race is very small. Forster says, " In Greenland 
and among the Esquimaux, where the natives live chiefly upon 
fish, seals, and oily animal substances, the women seldom bear 
children oftener than three or four times ; five or six births are 
reckoned a very extraordinary instance. The Pesserais, whom 
we saw, had not above two or three children belonging to each 
famil}^, though their common food consisted of muscles, fish, 
and seal flesh. The New Zealanders absolutely feed on fish,* 
and yet no more than three or four children were found in the 
most prolific families ; which seems strongly to indicate that 
feeding on fish by no means contributes to the increase of num- 
bers in a nation." 

Our knowledge of the average length of life, to which the 
fish-eating tribes of mankind arrive, is necessarily scanty, they 
not being numerous, and of a very low degree of civilization. 

* The writer must mean that it is the only animal food (if I may so 
epeak) they use. We know that they eat the roots of ferns, and are not 
wholly ignorant of agriculture. 



92 VEGETABLE DIET 

But as far as our information reaches, it tends to show that this 
period is very short. I shall bring forward two distinct evi- 
dences for this conclusion, of which the coincidence of the testi- 
mon}^ is very remarkable. 

The first is that of Captain Cook, who informs us that at Ona- 
lashka (an island on the north-west coast of America), fish 
forms a principal part of the food of the inhabitants. They 
dry large quantities of it in summer, which they store in small 
huts for their winter stock. Of these people this very saga- 
cious observer remarks : " They do not seem to be long-lived. 
I nowhere saw a person, man or woman, whom I could sup- 
pose to be sixty years of age, and but very few who appeared 
to be above fifty." 

An account given by Bruce of the length of life of the inhab- 
itants of the largest island of the Red Sea entirely corresponds 
with this. He says, "At Dalahac, the sustenance of the poorer 
sort is entirely shell and other fish" (they have also a good 
deal of goats' milk, and some millet, but no bread). " I could 
not observe a man among them that seemed to be sixty years 
old." 

These observations are the more worthy of notice, as being 
made in very different latitudes ; and as there are fevf places 
indeed so unhappil)'' circumstanced, as not to possess a few 
with constitutions strong enough to carry them to four-score. 
They are, in general, conformable to a remark of Friar Bacon, 
who says, " Bread yields a moisture safer from destruction than 
flesh, and flesh produces a moisture more removed from cor- 
ruption than fish." Facts such as these should be well Aveighed 
by those who institute and support societies for supplying the 
poor with fish, and those who are so anxious to promote the 
fisheries at the expense of agriculture. For it is to be observ- 
ed that they cannot both prosper in the same places ; the oc- 
cupation of fishing being most lucrative and secure at the 
season when the husbandman ought to be most busy. 

Of all the other substances which enter largely into human 
diet, the milk of herbivorous animals is, probably, that which 
approaches most nearly in salubrity to pure vegetable matter. 
Being secreted almost immediately after taking in food (as 
nurses constantly experience), it partakes the most of the pro- 
perties of the food. Accordingly, we find that milk is im- 
pregnated with a saccharine substance, and that it is suscepti- 
ble of the vinous and acetous fermentations. Hence milk is in 
part vegetable food ; and as such, is used by all pastoral na- 
tions, and serves in a measm'e as a substitute for it. The Brit- 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 93 

ish aborigines of our own island were in this condition, living, 
as Caesar has informed us, upon milk and flesh. 

Many have been sustained by milk alone, even for a series of 
3^ears ; and have avoided some of the sufferings which they 
had experienced when eating flesh. I cannot doubt, there- 
fore, that to those who can submit to such a course, it would 
prove more salubrious than a diet of animal food, and, pro- 
bably, such persons would lengthen their lives by this practice. 

But independent of the irksomeness and disgust which have 
been commonly experienced from milk, when used abundantly, 
it seems to me highly unphilosophical to suppose that there 
can be any substitute ever discovered for natural diet. There 
are some gases which approach very nearly in their constitu- 
ent principles to atmospheric air. But we do not find it pos- 
sible to use any gas as a substitute for common air, consistently 
with health. We cannot even add to or diminish from the con- 
stituents of common air, without rendering it less fitted for 
respiration. Why then should we fancy that we may yield to 
any caprice or fancy with regard to our food ; and that any 
substance whatever, which the juices of the stomach can dis- 
solve, is equally wholesome ; or that, because the milk of a cow 
aftbrds the best possible nourishment to a calf, it is therefore 
the substance of all others the best suited to a child ? 

For milk, besides its saccharine and fermentable principles, 
contains a coagulable matter, the curd or cheese, which is more 
perfectly animalized, and which is very nearly alhed to the al- 
buminous matter of animal bodies. Hence the operation of 
milk upon the system is in part the same as that of animal 
food, though it is less powerful in degree. It at first fattens 
and heightens the color. It therefore possesses a degree of 
the stimulating power of animal food, and must eventually have 
similar results. But milk, moreover, in many habits excites 
headache, thirst, Aveight, and oppression at the stomach ; and 
in those who have tried to make it the principal part of their 
sustenance, the attempt has commonly caused an almost insu- 
perable disgust. This, I have little doubt, is the true reason 
why such an experiment is now so rarely made. It aff'ords 
sufficient ground for thinking that milk ought to be excluded, 
as much as possible, from the diet of persons to whom a strict 
adherence to regimen is necessary. 

We give it indeed to our children, and this is so customary 
that I have heard it exclaimed against as a perfect act of inhu- 
manity to deny it them. But I cannot find that children from 
whom it is withheld at all regret or suffer from the want of 



94 VEGETABLE DIET 

it. The whole immense population of China is brought up ; and 
the use of milk is hardly known throughout this vast empire. 

If we consider pure nature, we must acknowledge that our 
food ought to be of such a kind as to require mastication, at 
least as soon as we are furnished with teeth. This considera- 
tion alone is enough to make us suspect that milk cannot be 
strictly proper nor perfectly suitable to the human constitu- 
tion. We are always complaining of the trouble our teeth 
give us. But from our practices we appear to regard them 
as useless and superfluous. 

Some, from whom I expected more correct reasoning, have 
argued from this custom of giving milk to children, and even to 
infants, without apparent detriment, that it therefore must be per- 
fectly innoxious But in this whole discourse we are inquiring, 
not what the healthy may do with impunity, but what is most 
proper for the diseased, in order to restore their health or palliate 
their sufferings. Now I see no reason wdiy milk should be 
reckoned perfectly innocent, because we give it to children, or 
why a healthy child may not bear deviation from the most nat- 
ural and proper food with as much, or even with greater, 
safety than a healthy adult. In such a child, though the bodily 
strength is feeble, the vital powers are strong, and indeed they 
must frequently be much stronger in the child than in the full- 
grown man. It cannot be but a child, which may have four- 
score years of life remaining to it, must be vitally stronger than 
an adult who may have nearly finished his race of life ; it may 
be expected to bear injuries better, and in fact it commonly 
does so. But with regard to the question before us, it is very 
common for children to die whose principal substance has been 
milk. From the custom of feeding children with it, then, we 
can infer nothing with regard to its salubrity. 

Milk eating; and flesh eatino; are but branches of a common 
system, and they must stand or fall together. If there were 
no demand for the i.esh of the animal, the milk would not even 
be produced. The real question, taken in the widest extent, is, 
whether the agricultural system ought not wholly to supersede 
the pastoral system, as in countries increasing in population it 
is constantly doing in some degree. Nature herself, that is to 
say, the productive power of the soil, has confined the possi- 
bility of maintaining the domestic animals within such strait 
limits, that an abundant population cannot be supplied, from 
its own soil,* with a daily moderate portion either of flesh or of 

* The country Laplauders (for there are fishing tribes of the same race) 
present us with the most perfect example of pastoral manners. They 



IN CHRONIC DISEASE? 95 

milk ; much less can it feed them upon these suhstances. It 
is said to have been the wish of the fourth Henry, that every 
peasant of France should have his loouUt clans Ic pot. But this 
was a dream of benevolence, to the reahzation of which nature 
has placed an insuperable barrier. Search the world through, 
and an example cannot be found of a large society living upon 
flesh, the produce of its own soil. The same may also be said 
of milk. Both the one and the other are monopolized, as it 
were, by those members of the community who possess some 
superfluous property. But this order of men will ever struggle 
in vain to draw a line of demarkation between themselves, and 
their fellow-men, and to raise themselves, as it were, above the 
common lot of humanit}^ Nature disdains our artificial distinc- 
tions, and views all her offspring with the same parental eye. 
Can, indeed, any notion be so irrational, so monstrous, as to 
suppose that a Creator has formed myriads of human beings, 
perfect in strength and intellect, and at the same time has made 
it impossible for them to provide what is necessary to the pres- 
ervation of animal life ? We may safely conclude then, that 
what is not necessary cannot be natural ; it is easy to go one 
step further, and say, what is not natural cannot be useful. 

I shall in this place introduce a few words on the question of 
how far artificial preparation of all our vegetable food is neces- 
sary or useful. That many sorts are really improved by 
cookery admits of no question ; but it may be doubted whe- 
ther by indiscriminately macerating every thing as we do, we 
do not often injure the substance we operate upon, instead of 
improving it. With us, a parent will correct his child for eat- 
ing a raw turnip, as if it were poisonous. But the Russians, 
from the lowest peasant to the highest nobleman, are, accord- 
have small quantities of meal, supplied by commerce, and eat such vege- 
table matter as their country spontaneously produces, particularly the 
angelica, which is their great delight. But the far greater part of their 
sustenance is from the flesh and milk of the rein-deer. The wealth of the 
Laplander is estimated by the number of rein-deer which he possesses. 
Of the number of these animals uecessaiy to a family we have from a late 
traveler the following account : " We had yet seen no herd und^er 300. 
With this number a family is said to be in moderate pro'sperity. It can 
be maintained. They can afford to kill as many rein-deer as are neces- 
sary for food and clothing, shoes and boots, and to sell besides a few 
rein-deer skins, hides, and hoi-ns to the merchant for meal, or brandy, or 
woolen stuffs. On the other hand, a family lives very miserably on a 
hundred of these animals, and can hardly keep from starving." (Von 
Buch's Travels through Norway and Lapland, p. 322.) We see, then, 
what a space of ground each Lapland family must occupy, and how impos- 
sible it is that a country upon such a system can become populous. 



96 VEGETABLE DIET 

ing to Clarke, eating raw turnips all day long. Wc may be 
certain then, that there is no harm in the practice. 

But further, there is every reason to believe, particularly 
from the observations of the navigators in the Pacific Ocean, 
that those races of men who admit into their nutriment a large 
proportion of fruit, and recent vegetable matter, unchanged by 
culinary art, have a form of body, the largest, of the most per- 
fect proportion, and the greatest beauty, that they have the 
greatest strength and activity, and probably that they enjoy 
the best health. 

This fact alone is enough to refute the vulgar error (for it 
deserv^es no other name) that animal food is necessary to sup- 
port the strength. It may be necessary to those whom the 
injustice or the artificial wants of society have doomed to the 
labor of dray-horses. Even this is doubtful. But we see that 
almost the whole agricultural labor of the country is performed 
without it. It cannot, therefore, be necessary to this species of 
labor, nor to any other which a man ought to undergo. The 
same fact may still prompt us further to inquire, whether 
there is any just foundation for the prejudices which are very 
prevalent against the use of fruit, as if there were something in 
it pernicious or dangerous, and to examine from whence these 
prejudices have arisen. 

This notion of fruit being unwholesome has descended to us, 
even from the days of Galen. He has said, that " All fruits 
are of a bad composition, and useful only to persons Avho have 
been exposed to great heat, or harassed by along journey." 

But this same Galen has soon after acknowledged that fruits 
afford a perfect nourishment ; in proof of which he observed, 
that the persons who are set over the vineyards, and who live 
for a couple of months upon nothing but figs and grapes (with 
the addition, perhaps, of a little bread) become fat. Dr. Cleg- 
horn says that this observation of Galen is annually confirmed 
at Minorca, it being remarkable that the persons appointed for 
the same purpose there commonly continue in 'good health, 
though in that season tertians usually rage with the greatest 
violence. Similar observations have been made upon negroes 
in the West Indies, who live on the recently expressed juice of 
the sugar cane ; and Sir George Staunton says, " As in the 
West Indies, so in China, the people employed in the fields 
during this season" (the time of pressing the sugar canes) 
** are observed to get fat and sleek ; and many of the Chinese 
slaves and idle persons are frequently missing about the time 
that the canes become ripe, hiding themselves, and living alto- 
gether in the plantations. 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 97 

The prejudices then entertained against fruit and recent un- 
changed vegetable matter cannot be founded in any just obser- 
vations, proving that they are truly insalubrious, and unfit for 
human nutriment. Yet it cannot be doubted that matter of this 
kind excites, in many, great inconvenience and uneasiness. There 
are those to whom a raw apple is an object of terror almost as 
great as a pistol shot. Numbers of people cannot bear a mor- 
sel of fruit. Dean Swift, in several of his letters, complains 
that he could not eat a bit of fruit without suffering, and de- 
clares how much he envied persons whom he saw munching 
peaches, while he durst not touch a morsel. Wood, the 
miller of Billericay, who set up for a sort of a doctor, warned 
people strongly against the use of fruit, guided, no doubt, by 
a similar feeling of uneasiness. 

But we see children glut themselves, almost to bursting, 
with fruits, and suffering nothing from them but a little tempo- 
rary uneasiness from distention. We see, as I have said, tribes 
of people principally supported by them. And from the great 
pleasure which children and young persons, whose stomachs 
are the most healthy, receive from them, it seems probable that 
fruit, and the produce of trees in general, instead of being un- 
wholesome, is the sort of matter the most suited to the organs 
of man. Such was the opinion of the great naturalist Linnaeus. 
''This species of food," he says, " is that which is most suit- 
able to man ; which is evinced by the series of quadrupeds, 
analogy, wild men, apes, the structure of the mouth, of the 
stomach, and the hands." 

We have, indeed, annual accounts of persons killing them- 
selves by eating nuts or cherries ; but such relations probably 
come from persons who are little capable of determining the 
causes of death or disease. Upon a sudden seizure, particu- 
larly of fatal illness, the last thing eaten commonly bears the 
blame. There may be found in the Philosophical Transactions 
a grave account, by one of the most eminent members of the 
Royal Society, of a boy killed by eating apple dumpling. I 
have never trembled on this account when I have had a good 
plateful of apple pudding before me. 

That fruit and recent vegetable matter, in general, is not 
merely innoxious, but much more congenial to the constitution 
than the same matter which has been changed by culinary pre- 
paration, may be further deduced from its superior efficacy in 
the cure of scurvy. The fact of the facility with which this 
disease, which has proved fatal to thousands of seamen and 
others, may be cured, is so fully established that it is needless 
5 



98 VEGETABLE DIET 

to cite any proofs of it. Suffice it to say, that if the patient is 
not consumptive, nor laboring under any other chronic disease, 
it will yield in the course of a few days to the use of fruit, lemon 
juice, antiscorbutic herbs, or, in short, of any vegetable matter 
that is wholesome and fresh. Even raw potatoes have effected 
a cure. And so speedy is the effect upon the system, that the 
color of a scorbutic ulcer becomes improved and reddened m 
twelve hours after the use of lemons. It is not perhaps so well 
known that vegetables which have been submitted to the fire 
are far less efficacious against this disease. But this fact seems 
perfectly established. On this point a physician of the first 
authority on such subjects has these observations ; 

"It is certain that the medical effects of the native sweet 
juices are, in other respects, very different from what they are 
in their refined state ; for manna, wort, and the native juice of 
the sugar cane are purgative, whereas sugar itself is not at all 
so. This affords a presumption that they may be also different 
in their antiscorbutic quality ; and there is reason to think, from 
experience, that the more natural the state in which any vege- 
table is, the greater is its antiscorbutic quality. Vegetables in 
the form of salads are more powerful than when prepared by 
fire ; and I know for certain, that the rob of lemons and oranges 
is not to be compared to the fresh fruit. Raw potatoes have 
been used with advantage in the fleet, particularly by Mr. Smith 
of the Triton, who made the scorbutic men eat them sliced with 
vinegar, with great benefit. This accords also with what Dr. 
Mertens, of Vienna, has lately communicated to the Royal So- 
ciety of London." 

It has been observed by some other writers, that it adds 
much to the suffering of the scorbutic seaman when, from the 
rotten state of his teeth, he is unable to eat the sour krout with- 
out boiling, for that the boiling very much impairs its antiscor- 
butic powers. 

But this is not all. There have been examples of a deep 
scurvy appearing among persons whose diet w^as entirely vege- 
table. Dr. Trotter has related an instance of this in a carofo of 
unfortunate negroes in a slave ship, who were fed upon beans, 
rice, and Indian corn. It is proper, however, to add, that these 
poor wretches were most diabolically treated, being stowed 
spoonways, according to the technical phrase ; and some were 
actually suffocated for want of fresh air. 

These facts are enough to show that there is an essential dif- 
ference between fresh vegetable matter and the same matter 
changed by cookery ; and they make it in a manner certain, 



l^N CHRONIC DISEASES. 99 

that in the latter s'uite it is less congenial to the human frame. 
If, therefore, in this state it creates -uneasiness in the stomach, 
it must proceed, not from any noxious quality of the vegetable, 
but from some vice of the stomach itself. And it illustrates 
most forcibly how much we may be deceived, by inferring any 
thing concerning the good and ill qualities of a substance from 
its primary operation on a morbid body ; how little, havmg de- 
praved our stomachs by the stimulation of an artificial system 
of diet, we can confide in the feelings conveyed. 

The internal coat of this organ possesses an exquisite sensi- 
bility, if not to all impressions, to those which are peculiarly 
fitted to it. This sensibility appears to be a species of taste, 
very nearly like that of the tongue or palate ; and our likings 
and aversions may be suspected to be caused by the relation 
between this membrane and the substances applied to it. JSTow 
under the common habits of life we find a slow but constant 
change taking place with regard to the objects of liking, so that 
gradually all the substances which were most the objects of 
desire, and afforded the highest pleasure in our early days, when 
it must be supposed that the organs were the most healthy, be- 
come indifferent, if not disagreeable. All the effective agents 
which are applied to the system may contribute to this result. 
But probably the stimulating part of our diet — the animal food 
and fermented liquors — is that which has the most active share 
in its production. 

In consequence of these habits, the stomach becomes more 
and more agreeably affected, and, as it were, in unison with 
whatever is stimulating, and which is really warm or excites the 
feelings of warmth ; and, on the other hand, what is cool or 
what excites the feehng of coldness is disagreeable and uneasy. 
In this respect the internal parts of the body, and especially 
this very sensible membrane, is similar to the external, which 
may be made so tender by large fires, close rooms, and indul- 
gence, as not to bear without pain the common temperature of 
the atmosphere. A gouty stomach, constantly under the in- 
fluence of wine, spirits, rich sauces, and made dishes, finds it 
necessary for comfortable feeling to have the stimulus gradually 
heightened ; weak wines are deficient in power ; it requires the 
strongest, or even ardent spirits, to make it comfortable ; and 
every thing solid must likewise be highly seasoned. Many per- 
sons, too, have the stomach in this condition who are not sub- 
ject to gout. 

Now these are the persons to whom vegetables of all kinds 
are the most distasteful and insipid, and, as they think, from the 



100 VEGETABLE DIET 

flatulence they excite, indigestible. But fruit, and all vegetable 
matter unchanged by cookery, are still more opposite to this 
condition of the stomach, for they excite a sense of coldness in 
the orofan to which nothinsf is aOTeeable but what is stimulant 
and fiery ; as they dissolve with more slowness than any other 
species of matter, they are esteemed the m.ost difficult of diges- 
tion, and the impression w^hich they make is more permanent 
than that of any other matter which is used as food. 

These are the circumstances which appear to me to make 
fruit and recent vegetables so offensive to a number of persons, 
and to have raised such strong prejudices against them as if 
they were really pernicious. That in a multitude of persons 
they excite uneasy feeling, and therefore appear to disagree, is 
certain ; and those who argue immediately from their feeling 
can hardly form any other conclusion. But those who look a 
little below the surface of things will be less hasty in their de- 
terminations. They will inquire how these uneasy feelings are 
generated, and what they indicate. They must see that they 
may arise from a diseased condition of the stomach, as well as 
from anj'- thing noxious in the matter applied to it ; and if the 
account I have given be just, such must be the truth. This 
will lead them a step further, and they will inquire whether by 
breaking in upon the old habits, it is not possible to alter the 
sensations, and to get rid of the pains or uneasiness by amend- 
ing the state of the stomach itself ? 

Considerable experience has convinced me that this is very 
possible. I have seen persons who have followed the regimen 
I advise in chronic diseases regain their relish for fruit, and 
indulge in it without any detriment or inconvenience. This 
they could not do under their former mixed regimen ; and it 
abundantly compensated for the deprivations they sustained in 
other articles. A gentleman told me that under this regimen 
he can eat cherries in any quantity with impunity, which for- 
merly were used to give him considerable uneasiness. 

If I am right in my account of the source of the uneasiness 
which many persons suffer from fruits and recent vegetables, 
it must follow that it is a gross absurdity to deny them to 
children, young persons, or invalids, who have a desire for 
them and in w4iom they produce no uneasiness. And yet this 
absurdity is committed daily. Children are forbidden fruit 
who have the greatest longing for it. If any desire can be 
truly be said to be natural and instinctive, it is this. As such 
it should always be moderately indulged. To act otherwise is 
equally irrational and cruel. 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 101 

I hope not to be so far misunderstood (even that lias hap- 
pened) as if I blamed all culinary preparation of vegetables. 
But I think that the practice is carried to excess. It appears 
to be the general opinion that almost all vegetable matter, if 
not previously submitted to the action of heat, is absolutely 
indicrestible and noxious. But the fact is that almost all our 
common garden vegetables may be used without any such pre- 
paration ; and it is highly probable that in this natural condi- 
tion they would be more nutritive, more strengthening, and cer- 
tainly far more antiscorbutic than when they have been changed 
by the fire. On this account it is that I think it highly advisable 
that some portion either of fruit or of* fresh vegetable matter 
should be used daily. Children, too, should be encouraged in 
the use of such things instead of being forbid them, as is the 
common practice. If the stomach be so much diseased that 
nothing of this kind can be borne, soups made with a large 
quantity of recent vegetables may be substituted. They seem 
to be far preferable to vegetables much boiled ; the soup and 
the vegetables ma}^ be eaten together, and are very agreeable 
to the palate. 

I have been asked repeatedly, as I recommend to the invalid 
distilled in place of common water, whether I think it necessary 
to use the same kind for boiling vegetables. I take this oppor- 
tunity, therefore, to say that I regard such nicety as needless. 
If the matter to be boiled absorbs a large quantity of water, 
as rice, this attention may be right. In making bread the same 
attention should, if possible, be paid. But the quantity absorbed 
by common culinary vegetables is probably too small to deserve 
notice. Those who wish to be extremely exact may dress their 
vegetables by steam. ^• 

There may be other parts of our dietetic habits which it 
w^ould not be improper to examine. The use of tea and coffee, 
for example, is by many suspected, and, perhaps, not without 

* One of the principal marks of distinction between the face of a negro 
or the savage man, and the European, is in the form of the face. The 
negro has the mouth and chin very prominent, so that a perpendicular 
hue let fall from the forehead cuts off a much larger portion of the lower 
part of the face in the negro than in the European. Now it seems very 
clear that this form of the face is generated by the use of food requiring 
more mastication, consequently greater force of the masticating organs. 
In consequence, the temporal, massiter, diagastric, and the other muscles 
of mastication become habitually stronger, the surface of attachment 
enlarged and elongated, and the whole form of the head and face changed 
and modified from these circumstances. If this position be just, the form 
of the head and face, which distinguishes civilized nations, is produced in 
a great measure by the cookery of their food. 



102 VEGETABLE DIET 

reason. But I abstain from subjects on which I am conscious 
that I have nothing of value to offer. I shall, therefore, con- 
clude with making a single inquiry with regard to bread, which 
I shall leave to the determination of those who are competent 
to pronounce on such questions, and who have proper oppor- 
tunities of observations. What I would ask is this. Is the 
farina of wheat, or any other, improved or injured — is it made 
more or less wholesome by fermentation ? or, in other words, 
which should be preferred, leavened or unleavened bread? 
The leaven or fermented bread sits lighter upon the stomach ; 
but this is no proof that it is really more salubrious. We know 
very well that the coarsest black bread, which is as heavy 
almost as a lump of dough, gives much nourishment and 
strength. A sensible writer says, that he " has heard a sea- 
faring man observe that he was always sensible of a diminution 
of muscular strength when he left off the use of biscuit and ate 
common bread." Hippocrates has given a corresponding 
testimony. His words are "Leavened or fermented bread is 
lighter in digestion, and passes easily through the body ; but 
unfermented bread does not go off so easily, though it nour- 
ishes more where the stomach can bear it." 

If these observations are correct, the fermenting of bread and 
the cookery of vegetables are practices adopted by mankind 
from the same motives ; they accommodate the matters to which 
they are applied to the factitious delicacy of our digesting 
organs, which is effected, however, at some expense of their 
strengthening and nutritive powers. 



CHAPTER VII. 



Noxious habits of slow operation. — Erroneous statements. — Vegetable 
food necessary to a perfect organization. — It is produced in all climates 
habitable by inan. — The natural progress of society. — The use of ani- 
mal food a relic of barbarous manners. 

In ascribing the diseases of mankind to their situation and 
habits of life, I have commonly said that these are to be con- 
sidered not as their immediate, but as their remote and ante- 
cedent causes ; a distinction which it is necessary carefully to 
attend to. For it is obvious that no habit whatever, whether 
it regard food or drink, or situation, can possibly have been 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 103 

received and adopted by any society of men without its being 
apparently salubrious to the great majority of the society. 
Were it otherwise, the truth would become evident even to the 
rudest savages ; and they would accordingly change their habits, 
or at least be disposed to do so. But the majority of the 
society enjoying a portion of health and comfort, with which 
they are contented, the operation of remote causes escapes 
observation, and men become exceedingly unwilhng to connect 
their sufferings with the things which constitute a large portion 
of their enjoyments. 

The example of persons arriving at what is deemed extreme 
old age still further confirms the delusion. How, it is asked, 
can that be pernicious which persons use, and enjoy good health, 
perhaps for four-score years and upward? It is, indeed, a 
wonderful instance of the varieties of the human constitution. 
But when we see that there are men who use daily large quan- 
tities of wine and ardent spirits without apparent detriment"^ — 
that they carry it even to the extent of daily intoxication with 
a long-continued impunity — we must confess that these facts 
prove nothing more than this astonishing variety. They show 
us that we are really ignorant of what is the natural duration 
of human life under the most favorable circumstances. The 
examples of extraordinary longevity, which some few individuals 
have been known to attain, show how much we are in the dark 

* The late Dr. Holyoke, of Salem, Mass., lived to the age 100 years. 
He was in the habit of being temperate in all things. He was a man of 
a most remarkable character, never tempted to excess. He used to 
live without much care, without thinking whether he would do himself 
harm or not. He was very cheerful, and of a very benevolent heart and 
easy conscience, and patient of little injuries. He was in the habit of 
using intoxicating drinks in small quantities. He had a preparation, 
which consisted of one table-spoonful of Jamaica rum and one table- 
spoonful of cider, diluted with water, which he used after dinner, while 
smoking his pipe. I would mention, in connection with this habit, that 
he did not die of old age. I examined the body myself, with very great 
care and attention. The heart and organs which are apt to be diseased 
in aged persons, and to become hardened like stone, were as soft as an 
infant's, and for aught that appeared, might have gone on another 100 
years. And so of the other organs. The liver and brain were in a 
healthy state. He died of the disease which is most commonly pro- 
duced by the use of ardent spirits and tobacco — an internal cancer. 
There was a band three or four inches broad around the stomach, which 
was schirrous or thickened. I am far from wishing to say any thing to 
the discredit of the late Dr. Holyoke, who was my personal friend. But 
if his great age is to be made an argument for the moderate use of spirits, 
I desire that his schirrous, cancerous stomach should be put alongside of 
it. — Dr. Pierson^s testimony before the Le^\slature of Mass. See Temver- 
ance Journal, 1839, p. 67. — S. 



101 VEGETABLE DIET 

on these subjects. Men have arrived at double, and more than 
double, what is the greatest common extent of human life. 
The real wonder, therefore, is that such multitudes perish pre- 
maturely. 

The effects, therefore, of animal food and other noxious mat- 
ter, of inducing and accelerating fatal disease, are not immediate 
but ultimate effects. The immediate effect is to engender a 
diseased habit or state of constitution, not enough to impede 
the ordinary occupations of life, but in many to render life it- 
self a long- continued sickness, and to make the great mass of 
society morbidly susceptible of many passing impressions, which 
would have no injurious influence upon healthy systems. Even in 
the early stages of life, the agency of these habits is often suffi- 
ciently obvious. It appears in the change of complexion, the 
falling off of the hair, the decay of the teeth, the impaired 
power of the senses, as of the hearing and the eyesight, de- 
foedations of the skin, and many other marks of disease, which 
are as various as the infinitely various constitutions of different 
individuals. As life proceeds, the resisting powers of the body 
diminish, and, in consequence, the derangement of the system, 
produced by the slow but incessant action of morbific causes, 
becomes more evident. In some, the springs of life are secretly 
undermined, with little evident derangement of the functions ; 
and such persons are cut off suddenly by acute illness, while 
enjoying apparent good health. In others, chronic diseases 
take place, perhaps not immediately affecting life, but which, 
for the most part, increase in severity as years advance. Others, 
again, suffer lingering diseases, which gradually, but inevitably, 
terminate in the dissolution of the body. 

Such diseases as these, then, must be regarded as the ulti- 
mate result of the noxious powers which habitually act upon 
the body. In all of them, the vitality of the body, or the pow- 
ers which are essential to the due performance of the functions 
of life, are radically impaired. The variety of symptoms can 
be esteemed to be nothino^ more than the difierent forms of 
death, as some organs suffer more than others. 

It is much to be regretted that so little can be found in medi- 
cal writers on the subject of the connection of the diseases with 
the food, circumstances, and occupations of different nations or 
classes of society ; and still more, that the greater part of what 
has been said on these subjects is probably erroneous. Some 
assertions, made apparently on good authority, are so directly 
contradictory to the doctrine I have attempted to establish, 
that I cannot pass them wholly imnoticed. 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 105 

The Laplanders have been often asserted to be an example 
of a people living wholly upon animal food, and enjoying under 
this diet perfect health, and arriving commonly at an extraordi- 
nary degree of longevity. The authority of Linnceus is cited 
in proof of the correctness of these assertions. He has said of 
the Laplander : " Tu ducis innocentissimos tuos annos ultra 
ccntenarimn numerum cam facili senectute et summa sanitate. 
Te latent myriades morhorum nobis EuroiJceis communes.''^ 

With regard to longevity, no assertions can be depended 
upon, unless taken from authentic registers, of which, pro- 
bably, none exist in Lapland. It seems hardly possible that 
many individuals among this illiterate people could be really 
acquainted with their own age. And with regard both to 
health and longevity, the accounts of modern travelers give us 
no reason to think that this people is peculiarly favored. 
Acerbi, in his travels, mentions incidentally one young widov^% 
and another paralytic person ; and as, in transiently passing- 
through such a country, the opportunities of observation must 
have been veiy few, we majT- fairly conclude that there is, at 
least, the usual proportion of sick among them. 

Still less favorable is the general picture of their habits and 
manners. The above-mentioned writer describes them as 
''feeble, awkward, and helpless beings." He says, that "the 
unsettled and wandering Laplanders are remarkable for sloth 
and dirt ;" that " stupidity, laziness, and beastliness were pro- 
minent in all they did, and in all that appertained to them." 
And of these tribes it appears that those who subsist by fish- 
ing are the most miserable. The account recently published 
by Von Buch is, if possible, less advantageous than that of 
Acerbi. 

Nor is it true that the Laplanders do not use some vegeta- 
ble matter in their diet, even daily. They exchange, at the fair 
of Kantokeino, the skins of their animals for meal among other 
articles ; and Acerbi asserts that '' the corn they obtain is con- 
verted into flour for their own use, which, through long habit, 
is become so necessary an article of their subsistence that they 
are miserable if they have it not all the year round." 

Moreover, the herds of rein-deer are milked daily, and there- 
fore much of their subsistence must be drawn from this source. 
It appears that the milk, by being frozen, is kept perfectly 
sweet and fit for use during all the winter months. This it is 
which serves as a substitute for vegetable food. After all, how- 
ever, it must be allowed that the supply of vegetable food to this 
people, from their ignorance of agriculture, is very scanty ; and 
6* 



106 VEGETABLE DIET 

I cannot doubt that they suffer from this cause exceedingly. 
If, as Linnaeus asserts, they are exempt from many European 
diseases, they are, probably, those proceeding from contagions, 
which can hardly be kept up in a country so thinly inhabited. 

If the doctrine I have maintained be well founded, we ought 
certainly to expect to find that the inhabitants of those coun- 
tries which, from their peculiar circumstances, are the most 
scantily supplied with vegetable food, are the most short-lived. 
Of these Lapland is the strongest example in Europe ; but I 
know not that there are many registers of the mortality of this 
people. Next to Lapland, the supply of Iceland is perhaps 
the most scanty, the country being poor, with little or no agri- 
culture, and receiving all its corn by importation. Accordingly, 
flesh, fish, and milk (particularly the two latter) are the princi- 
pal articles of sustenance of the inhabitants, I should, there- 
fore, have confidently expected that in Iceland the duration of 
life would be relatively small. 

But I find it asserted by Dr. Holland, a gentleman who ac- 
companied Sir George Mackenzie in his tour through Iceland, 
that "a comparison of facts would probably prove that the 
longevity of the Icelanders rather exceeds than falls short of 
the average obtained from the continental nations of Europe." 
This assertion, coming from a member of the profession, and an 
enlightened man, deserves some consideration. 

Fortunately the work from which it is taken furnishes the 
materials for its refutation, and it shows how little dependence 
can be placed on hasty and cursory observations, made on sub- 
jects with which the writers are perhaps but imperfectly ac- 
quainted. Dr. Holland himself has supphed us with a docu- 
ment, an examination of which leads to a conclusion the very 
reverse of that which the doctor has drawn. From this docu- 
ment it appears that in 1810, Iceland contained 47,207 inhabi- 
tants. Of this number there were 1698 between 71 and 80 
years of age, inclusive ; and the number of persons living, who 
were still older, was 484. If to this latter number we add a 
tenth part of the former, for the number who, having passed 
the age of 79, would be reckoned to have reached 80 (a num- 
ber which must, in fact, be considerably too large), we shall 
have a total of 653 persons of 80 years and upward. From 
this it appears that in Iceland 1 in 70 fives to be 80 years of 
age. But, according to Dr. Price (see p. 43), even in London 
1 in 40 arrives at that age ; and in country places in England, 
a fourteenth, or even less than a twelfth part of the inhabitants 
have been known to reach this age. We see, therefore, that 



[N CHRONIC DISEASES 107 

Iceland, instead of exceeding other European countries in lon- 
gevity, falls very short even of the metropolis of England ; and 
we may safely conclude that a diet consisting principally of fish 
and milk is unfavorable to long life. 

I cannot avoid noticing in this place the remarkable fact, re- 
corded in this same work, that at Heimaey, the only one of the 
Westmann Islands which is inhabited, scarcely a single instance 
has been known during the last twenty years of a child surviv- 
ing the period of infancy. In consequence, the population, 
which does not exceed 200 souls, is entirely kept up by emi- 
gration from the main-land of Iceland. The food of these peo- 
ple consists principally of sea-birds — fulmers and puffins ['pro- 
eel larla f/lacialis and alee arctica of Linnseus). The fulmers 
they procure in vast abundance, and they use the eggs and 
flesh of the birds, and salt the latter for their winter food. 
There are a few cows and sheep on the island, but the inhabi- 
tants are said to have no vegetable food. 

The disease which principally cuts off the infants is that 
species of tetanus which has been called trismus infantum. The 
writer of this account says that the same sea-fowl "is the prin- 
cipal aliment of the people of St. Kilda, the most remote of the 
western islands of Scotland, which I visited in 1800 ; a peculiar 
and fatal disease, w^hich attacks children, is common to both 
places, and may probably be occasioned by the mode of living." 

Norway is a country in the same situation as Iceland. It is 
said that the greatest part of the soil is incapable of bearing 
corn; and in consequence the principal dependence for that 
essential article is on importation. Pasturage affords a large 
proportion of the subsistence of the people. The housemen, or 
married laborers, all possess cattle ; the poorest have two or 
three cows ; and stores of cheese, salt butter, salt fish, and bacon 
are laid up for winter provisions. Such kinds of matter there- 
fore form a very considerable proportion of the daily food of 
the mass of the inhabitants. From these facts, for which I am 
indebted to Mr. Malthus, we may conclude that the Norwegians, 
as a community, use a less proportion of vegetable food than is 
common in this country ; and I should therefore infer from it a 
more rapid relative mortality. But the account of Mr. Malthus 
is apparently in contradiction to this inference, for he says of 
this country, " in common years the mortality is less than in 
any other country in Europe. The proportion of the annual 
deaths to the whole population, on an average throughout the 
whole comitry, is only as one to forty-eight." 

Notwithstanding this apparent contradiction, a more narrow 



108 VEGETABLE DIET 

inquiry must convince us that it is favorable to my principles. 
It appears in the first place that the climate of Norway is very 
healthy, and it is allowed that it is remarkably free from epi- 
demic sickness. This exemption is principally due to the scan- 
tiness of its population, scattered over an immense surface. The 
Norwegians are still very much in a pastoral state, depending 
for their support upon their cattle, and this forms an additional 
proof that this state is unfavorable to the increase of a people. 

But, secondly, Norway is without any large manufacturing 
towns ; what there are, are few and inconsiderable ; the largest 
of them, such as Christiana and Drontheim, do not possess a 
market. Hence we see that Norway ought to be esteemed to 
be almost a country place ; and to estimate the consequences 
of its habits, we should compare its mortality, not with that of 
the countries crowded with large and populous cities, but rather 
with that of the villages and country places of the same coun- 
tries. The inhabitants of Norway are, upon the whole, much 
more dispersed than these. But the mortality of Norway is 
somewhat greater than that of Great Britain, including its im- 
mense metropolis, and its numerous and crowded cities — this 
being, according to the last returns, only one in forty-nine of 
the whole population. Much greater is it than the average 
mortality of the country places and villages of Great Britain. 
In the vicmity of Manchester it has been shown that this mor- 
tality was only one in fifty-six ; at Ackworth only one in sixty. 
In these places contagious fevers of various kinds must add to 
the destruction of life. From all these considerations I cannot 
consider the example of Norway as affording any proof of the 
salubrity of the diet of the inhabitants. 

In the Statistical Reports of Sir John Sinclair, copied by Dr. 
Beddoes, in his Essay on Consumption, I find the following 
paragraph : " Rayne, Aberdeenshire. Stockings knit by all the 
women, some old men, and boys. Hysterics very common, 
and cutaneous disorders. Yearly deaths, seventeen in a popu- 
lation of 11*73 ; of the seventeen, seven or eight are from con- 
sumption; living, wretched." 

What the writer of this account understood by wretched liv- 
ing does not appear. I conjecture, however, that it means 
principally oatmeal and potatoes. Whatever it be, it would bo 
well if this wretched living were more generally adopted ; for it 
appears that the annual mortality of this place is no more than 
one in sixty-nine ; a smaller proportion than any recorded in 
England. 

It is evident from these examples that no weight can be 



IN CURONIC DISEASES. 109 

attached to vague assertions, even of respectable observers, on 
these subjects, unless they are supported by documents which 
evince their accuracy. 

From the high state of cultivation of almost all European 
countries, the supply of vegetable food is abundant throughout 
this part of the world. From its comparative cheapness, the 
laboring classes are in many situations from necessity confined 
to it ; and of those in easy circumstances, most persons make it 
the principal part of the diet of children ; and, for the most 
part, all use a moderate portion of vegetable food two or three 
times a day. The greater part of these communities are well 
grown and well formed. This is so much the ordinary condi- 
tion of the bulk of the people, tliat it is looked upon as the 
common course of nature ; and deviations from the proper pro- 
portions of the body, or other organic defects, are considered 
as diseases peculiar to the individual, arising out of some defect 
of the constitution, and in no manner connected with the mode 
of living. 

But if w^e examine the uncivilized races of mankind, we shall, 
perhaps, be led to form different conclusions. These whole 
tribes of men we consider as barbarians, and with reason, if we 
consider the knowledo-e of letters as the test of civilization. 

O ... 

But many of them, being acquainted with agriculture and other 
useful arts, are so far as little barbarous as the mass of the 
population of Europe. Other tribes again are very imperfectly 
versed in that or any other of the most necessary arts ; and 
some are wholly ignorant of it, and of almost all other useful 
knoAvledge. 

This diversity of mental cultivation has produced a corre- 
sponding diversity in their general modes of life, and particu- 
larly in their food. It is easy to see that those who practice 
agriculture, not only escape from the misery of a precarious sub- 
sistence, but acquire a bodily organization infinitely superior to 
that of tribes who are ignorant of this useful art. On the other 
hand, among these latter tribes a defective organization is so 
common that it can be accounted for only by errors in the mode 
of life. This will lead us to the conclusion, which I am con- 
vinced is perfectly correct, that an abundant supply of vegeta- 
ble food is necessary to the complete and perfect organization 
of the human body. 

I shall cite a few facts in proof of the justness of this doc- 
trine. 

The inhabitants of the Andaman Islands (situated in the 
Indian Ocean) are described as the most uncivilized of the 



110 VEGETABLE DIET 

human race. They have the characteristic features of the 
negro. Though lying within the tropics, the cocoa-nut-tree, 
which is so great a blessing to almost all the islands of the 
Indian and Pacific oceans, is denied to these ; and the natives 
practice no sort of agriculture. They inhabit therefore the 
coasts ; their only vegetable food is the scanty produce of the 
woods ; but their principal subsistence is drawn from fish, shell- 
fish, and the animals they catch in the woods. There is a race 
of hogs on the island, one of which affords them an occasional 
banquet ; but they eat likewise lizards, guanos, rats, snakes, and 
whatever else they can lay their hands upon. This wretched 
people in stature seldom exceed five feet ; their limbs are dis- 
proportionally slender and ill formed, with high shoulders and 
large heads ; their aspect is uncouth, and their countenances 
exhibit the extreme of wretchedness, displaying a horrid mix- 
ture of famine and ferocity. 

This is under a tropical sun. But in a northern region the 
effects of similar causes are very similar. The Ostiaks are the 
Tartar tribes inhabiting the regions watered by the Obi. They 
subsist very much by fishing, though a portion of their food 
is the produce of the chase. Of their frame of body Pallas 
says, " of the greater number the height is moderate, rather 
below the middle stature. They are not strong; the leg is 
particularly thin and with little calf (effilee). Their figure is in 
general disagreeable ; the complexion pale, without any cha- 
racteristic trait." 

Of the savages of Van Diemen's Land, it is said by Peron, 
that they have all of them, though well made in other respects, 
the leg and fore-arms thin and feeble, and the belly swelled. 
These savages have less strength than Europeans. Their chief 
sustenance is flesh and fish. 

The same writer observes that this emaciation of the limbs 
of the savages of New Holland was observed by Labillardiere, 
Cook, and Collins. They have scarce any fruits ; the kangaroo 
and one other species (I believe an oppossum) are the only 
animals of the country, and these are scarce; therefore they 
live much on fish, which from their emigration often fails. In 
consequence, in the interior, they feed on frogs, lizards, serpents, 
the larva of insects and caterpillars, and even (as at New Cale- 
donia) upon ants. 

A similar defect of conformation has been observed in the 
miserable tribes upon the coast of Tierra del Fuego. They 
fish much, and have a ver}^ scanty supply of vegetables, though 
they certainly do not go without them. "Their shoulders and 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. Ill 

their chest," says Forster, **are large and bony; the rest of 
their body so thin and slender, that on looking at the different 
parts separately, we could not persuade ourselves that they 
belonged to the same individuals."* 

The country which these wretched Pesserais inhabit is 
wholly uncultivated, and produces spontaneously very few escu- 
lent vegetables. Captain Cook observed some berry-bearing 
plants and scurvy grass. Perhaps the interior parts (of which 
nothing is known) may furnish more ; but however that may be, 
the whole is doubtless extremely scanty. But of birds and 
animals which gain their food from the ocean, there is the 
greatest possible abundance. Some of the islands are abso- 
lutely covered by these animals, which may be killed in any 
numbers with the greatest ease. 

• Now it is indisputable that all animals, which find an abun- 
dant supply of food suited to their respective natures, increase 
in numbers. If, then, animals such as these were proper food / 
for man, these islanders would be rioting in abundance and 
luxury, and we should find a great population. But instead of 
this they are very few in number, and, as Captain Cook says, 
*' a little, ugly, half-starved, beardless race." We may safely 
conclude, then, that both the deformity and stupidity of this 
race is due to their miserable diet, and that the numbers of men 
are limited, not by the supply of animal, but by that of vege- 
table matter. 

Let us now compare these miserable races with the natives 
of Otaheite — a people who, though they use both flesh and fish 
in moderate quantities, draw their principal subsistence from the 
soil — practicing agriculture in no mean degree of perfection, 
and that when they possessed no iron instrument, and without 
the aid of domesticated animals. Of all the food of these peo- 
ple, it has been said that at least four fifths was vegetable, and a 
large portion of that was unchanged by culinary preparation. 
Dr. Forster gives the following description of the bodily organi- 
zation of the better sort of these islanders : " The features of 

* Forster's Observations. The same writer says, " we found them to 
be a short, squat race with large heads; their color yellowish brown, the 
features harsh, the face broad, the cheek bones high and prominent, the 
nose flat, the nostrils and mouth large, and the whole countenance with- 
out meaning. All the upper part of the body is stout ; the shoulders and. 
chest broad ; the belly strait, but not prominent. The feet are by no 
means proportioned to the other parts; for the thighs are lean, the legs 
bent, the knees large, and the toes turned inward. They seem to be 
good-natured, friendly, and harmless, but remarkably stupid." — Forster, 
p. 250. 



112 VEGETABLE DIET 

tlic face are generally regular, soft, and beautiful ; the nose 
something broad below ; the chin is overspi-ead and darkened 
by a fine beard. The women have an open, cheerful counte- 
nance, a full bright and sparkling eye ; the face more round 
than oval ; the features arranged with uncommon symmetry, 
and heightened and improved by a smile which beggars all 
description. The rest of the body above the waist is well pro- 
portioned, included in the most beautiful soft outline, and some- 
times extremely feminine. 

"The common people," he says, "are likewise in general 
well built and proportioned, but more active, and with limbs 
and joints delicately shaped. The arms, hands, and fingers of 
some are so exquisitely delicate and beautiful, that they would 
do honor to a Venus de Medicis." 

The inhabitants of the Marquesas are acknowledged, b}^ the 
concurrent testimony of all voyagers, to be a still more beauti- 
ful race. And it may be said in general of the inhabitants of 
the other Society Islands, the Friendly Islands, Tanna, New 
Caledonia, the Sandwich Islands, in all of which the natives 
subsist chiefly upon vegetables, that they have a bodily organi- 
zation of the highest degree of perfection. The natives of some 
of the New Hebrides appear to be the strongest exceptions to 
the beauty of this race. The natives of Mailicollo are active 
and intelligent ; but both Cook and Forster describe them as 
ugly, having faces like apes. Of their manners we know little. 
They practice agriculture. But they probably depend much 
upon their bow and arrows for subsistence, since every man had 
one, and they were very unwilling to part with one. Bougain- 
ville says that the natives of the Isle of Lepers (one of the New 
Hebrides) are short, ugly, and ill-proportioned. I know noth- 
ing of their habits. It may not be disagreeable to the reader, 
if I here introduce an extract from a still more recent voyager, 
though it only goes to confirm the observations already made. 

*' The Washington Islands do not appear to diflfer essentially 
in the natural productions of the country from the rest of the 
Marquesas, or from the Friendly and Society Islands. The 
bread-tree (arto carpus incisa), the fruit of which, according to 
what Forster says, is here larger and finer flavored than any 
where else, cocoa-nuts, bananas, Indiankole, arum esculentum, 
yams, dioscorea alata, and batatas, convolvulus batatas are the 
principal articles of food among the vegetable kingdom ; sugar 
canes are also in abundance, but no attention is paid to culti- 
vating them. The Otaheitan apple, spondias, which the above- 
named celebrated naturalist (Forster) did not, find at the Mar- 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 113 

quesas, I found at ISTukaliiwa, but it was somewhat scarce. 
Besides the above common objects of food, there are a number 
of other fruits and roots, which the inhabitants eat in times of 
scarcity. 

" Judojinfif from the accounts of all naviorators who have 
visited the Friendly and Society Isles, I am inchned to think 
that the people of the Marquesas ancl Washington Islands ex- 
cel in beauty and grandeur of form, in regularity of features 
and of color, all the other South-Sea islanders. The men are 
almost all tall, robust, and well made. Few were so fat and 
unwieldy as the Otaheitans, none so lean and meagre as the 
people of Easter Island. We did not see a single cripple or 
deformed person, but such general beauty and regularity of 
form that it greatly excited our astonishment. Many of them 
might very well have been placed by the side of the most cele- 
brated chef-d'oeuvres of antiquity, and they would have lost 
nothing by the comparison. 

"A certain Mau-ka-u, or Mufau Taputakava, particularly 
attracted our attention from his extraordinary height, the vast 
strength of his body, and the admirable proportion of his limbs 
and muscles. He was now twenty jeais old, and was six feet 
two inches high, Paris measure f' and Counselor Tilesius, who 
unites the eye of a connoisseur and an artist, said he never saw 
any one so perfectly proportioned. He took the trouble of 
measuring every part of this man with the utmost exactness, 
and after our return to Europe imparted his observations to 
Counselor Blumenbach, of Gottingen, who has studied so as- 
siduously the natural history of man. This latter compared 
the proportions with the Apollo of Beividere, and found that 
those of that masterpiece of the finest ages of Grecian art, in 
which is combined every possible integer of manly beauty, cor- 
responded exactly with our Mufau, an inhabitant of the island 
of Nukahiwa. 

*' I trust that this subject will be thought sufficiently inter- 
esting to excuse my giving the measurements of Mufau, as 
taken by Counselor Tilesius, and detailed in Voigt's Magazine 
of Natural History."| These proportions will be found in the 
note below. 

* A French foot measures thirteen inches, English measure, 
t Height, six feet two inches, Paris measure. 
Breadth between the shoulders, nineteen inches two lines. 
In the periphery, forty inches. 
Breadth across the breast, fifteen inches. 

Length of the arms from the point of the shoulder to the end of the 
longest finger, twenty-two inches four lines. 



114 VEGETABLE DIET 

The truth of these inferences will be still more evident from 
comparing tribes living nearly in the same climate, and with no 
other difference of habit than a more abundant use of vegetables. 
We may select for this purpose the New Zealanders and New 
Hollanders. Both of these nations are destitute of domestic 
animals ; both draw a large portion of their subsistence from 
the sea ; and both live in a climate sufficiently mild, and nearly 
equally removed from the equator. But the New Zealander 
cultivates the soil, from which he draws perhaps one half of 
his subsistence. The New Hollander uses no vegetables except 
what he picks up accidentally, the spontaneous produce of the 
earth. " A few bei-ries, the yam and fern root, the flowers of 
the different banksias, and at times some honey make up the 
whole veo-etable cataloo-ue." 

The whole quantity is, of course, very small. The conse- 
quence is, the New Zealander enjoys a perfect organization ; 
but the New Hollander is defective. " Their size," says Dr. 
Forster of the former, " is generally tall, their body strong and 
formed for fatigue, their limbs proportioned and well knit." Of 
the latter Collins testifies, that " in general, indeed almost uni- 
versally, the limbs of these people were small ; of most of them 
the arms, legs, and thighs were very thin." 

Beauty of features appears to depend upon still nicer circum- 
stances. Many races which are perfectly vigorous are very 

Length of the head from the skull to the chm, ten inches. 

Circuniference of the head, measured round the forehead, and just 
above the ears, twenty-three inches and a half. 

Circumference of the breast, forty-two inches. 

Periphery of the lower belly about the spleen, thirty-two inches. 

Periphery of the great bason, round the hips, forty-two inches. 

Periphery of the upper part of the thigh, twenty-five inches. 

Periphery of the calf of the leg, seventeen inches and a half. 

Peripheiy of the ankle an inch above the foot, where it is smallest, ten 
inches. 

Length of the foot, twelve inches and a half. 

Greatest breadth of the foot, five inches and a half. 

Circumference of the upper part of the arm, thirteen inches and a 
half. 

Circumference of the arm above the elbow, thirteen inches and a 
quarter. 

Circumference of the hand, eleven inches and a quarter. 

Length of the hand, nine inches. 

Circumference of the neck, sixteen inches. 

Length from the skull to the navel, thirty-one inches and a half. 

Length from the navel to the division of the thighs, ten inches and a 
half. 

Length from the division of the thighs to the sole of the foot, thirty- 
eight inches. — Langsdorf^s Travels, p. 106. 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 115 

hard favored ; but it can hardly be doubted that all are beau^ 
tiful in their own estimation. But the form of features which 
accompanies the most perfect races of mankind must be reckon- 
ed the proper standard of beauty ; and where great deviations 
from this standard are universal, we must suspect the agency 
of some general cause. 

The Calmucks and the Circassians are not remote from each 
other, but wonderfully different in their form and physiognomy. 
The portrait of the former is thus drawn by Dr. Clarke : " No- 
thing is more hideous than a Calmuck. High, prominent, and 
broad cheek bones, very httle eyes widely separated from each 
other, a flat and broad nose, coarse greasy jet black hair, 
scarcely any eyebrows, and enormous prominent ears compose 
no very inviting countenance." Of the women he says : " It 
was difficult to distinguish the sex, so horrible and inhuman was 
their appearance." 

Of the Circassians we have from the pen of the same writer 
the following report : " The beauty of features and form for 
which the Circassians have been so long celebrated, is certainly 
prevalent among them. Their noses are aquiline, their eye- 
brows arched and regular, their mouths small, their teeth re- 
markably white, and their ears not so large nor so prominent 
as among the Tartars ; although from wearing the head always 
shaven they appear to disadvantage, according to our European 
notions. The}"- are well shaped and very active, being gene- 
rally of the middle sizes, seldom exceeding five feet eight or 
nine inches. Their women are the most beautiful perhaps in 
the world, of enchanting perfection of countenance, and very 
delicate features. Those whom we saw, the accidental captives 
of war, were remarkably handsome. The most chosen works 
of the best painters, representing a Hector or a Helen, do not 
display greater beauty than we beheld even in the prison of 
Ekaterinadara, where wounded Circassians, male and female, 
loaded with fetters, and huddled together, were pining in sick- 
ness and sorrow." 

Few will hesitate to pronounce that this ugliness of the Cal- 
mucks is the natural consequence of their diet. The horse is to 
the Calmuck what the rein- deer is to the Laplander, his slave 
in life, and his food after death. But besides horse flesh, which 
he often eats raw, the Calmuck devours indiscrirainatel}^ every 
animal he can kill. " Near the entrance of the tent," says Dr. 
Clarke, " hung a quantity of horse flesh, with the limbs of dogs, 
cats, marmots, rats, etc., drying in the sun, and quite black." 
And of the grossness of then' manners we have the following 



116 VEGETABLE DIET 

picture : " Just before entering tlic town, a young Calmuck 
woman passed us astride on horseback, laden with raw horse 
flesh, hanging hke carrion before her on each side. She was 
grinning archly at the treasure she had obtained ; this we after- 
ward found to be really carrion. A dead horse lying in the 
ditch surrounding the town on the land side had attracted 
about thirteen dogs, whom we found greedily devouring what 
remained, the Calmuck having contested the prize with them 
just before, and helped herself to as much of the mangled car- 
cass as she could carry away." 

Such are pastoral manners, naked and undisguised by the 
veil of artificial refinement ; and such their consequences. Of 
the Circassians we know little, except that they subsist chiefly 
by agriculture. Traveling through their territory is thought 
to be so dangerous, that it has hardly been attempted. A slight 
view that Dr. Clarke obtained of a part of it showed " a coun- 
try cultivated like a garden." Probably some other local cir- 
cumstances are peculiarly favorable. It is said that the teeth 
are remarkably white; a circumstance which indicates great 
purity both of the sohd and the fluid matter which enters into 
their diet. 

On the banks of the Missouri are a tribe of Indians called 
Ricaras. They cultivate the earth ; raise corn, maize, and other 
produce, in quantities sufficient both for their own consumption 
and for sale and exchano-e with their nei^^hbors. This tribe is 
distinguished for the beauty of their persons ; the men are tall 
and well proportioned, the women handsome and lively. The 
following trait of their character sufficiently marks their intel- 
lectual endowments : ** On our side we were equally gratified 
at discovering that these Ricaras made use of no spirituous 
liquors of any kind, the example of the traders who bring it to 
them so far from tempting having in fact disgusted them. Sup- 
posing that it was as agreeable to them as to the other Indians, 
we had at first offered them whiskey, but they refused it with 
this sensible remark, that they were surprised that their father 
should present to them a liquor which would make them fools." 

The Laplanders are of dwarfish stature. The Greenlanders 
are also very short, generally under five feet. It may be thought 
that this is the eff"ect of the rigor of their polar cold. But wc 
find interspersed among them, and inhabiting the very same 
country, numerous families of industrious Finns, who cultivate 
the earth, and subsist chiefly on its produce; and this race, 
though they remain for centuries in the same country, do not 
appear to be in the least smaller than the Swedes and Norwe- 



IN CHRONIC E7SEASES. 117 

gians. We must acknowledge, tlien, that the mode of life has 
infinitely more effect upon the human form than climate. 

We need not, however, travel to the other side of the globe 
for proofs of the salubrity of vegetable food, or to show that 
the human body will upon no other support arrive at its full 
stature, attain its just proportion, and be marked by health, 
strength, and beauty. The great body of our English peasantry, 
and even vast multitudes of the inhabitants of the metropolis, 
subsist almost wholly on vegetables, and are perfectly well 
nourished. The peasantry of Lancashire and Cheshire, who 
live principally on potatoes and butter-milk, are celebrated as 
the handsomest race in England. Two or three millions of our 
fellow -subjects in Ireland are supported the same way. On 
this subject it is said by Dr. Adam Smith : " The chairmen, 
porters, and coal heavers in London, and those unfortunate 
women who live by prostitution, the strongest men, and the 
most beautiful women perhaps in the British dominions, are 
said to be, the greater part of them, from the lower rank of 
people in L'eland, who are generally fed with this root — the 
potatoe. No food can afford a more decisive proof of its nour- 
ishing quality, or of its being peculiarly suitable to the health 
of the human constitution." 

A notion has been very prevalent, even among philosophical 
writers, that the food should vary with the climate. They ob- 
serve that between the tropics the natives live principally upon 
fruits, seeds, and roots. Though animal food is not avoided, ex- 
cept among some particular classes, yet men are in these chmates 
exceedingly sparing of its use. In the temperate climates the 
more general habit is to use a mixture of animal and veo-etable 
food, which is held to be in these reofions the most wholesome. 
In the high northern latitudes animals are produced in plent}'', 
but vegetable productions, fit for the food of man, are scanty ; 
and in these countries, therefore, men are confined principally 
to animal food. They go even so far as to say, that nature 
herself in these regions dictates the use of the flesh of animals, 
for that men must of necessity use this sort of food, or perish 
from hunger. If this plea be well founded it must be allowed 
to be unanswerable. 

The above is certainly a faithful account of the present habits 
of mankind in general ; but it appears to be the result rather 
of an imperfect state of civilization, than springing either from 
wisdom or necessity. In the tropical climates animals are, or 
might be produced more abundantly than in the polar regions, 
the earth being more fertile. But men attach themselves more 



118 VEGETABLE DIET 

to agriculture, as in tliese countries the ill consequences of 
using much animal food are more evident, and therefore univer- 
sally known and acknowledged. In the temperate climates the 
existing population could not be supported by pasturage alone, 
and therefore the body of the people of necessity used a mixed 
diet, wholly ignorant, for the most part, of its effects upon the 
body. In the high northern latitudes agriculture is hardly 
known, and a scanty population is supported by fishing, the 
chase, or pasturage, with a scanty supply of vegetable produc- 
tions. But they live so, not because it is most suitable to their 
situations, but from their ignorance of more useful arts. 

There was a time, probably, Avhen in every part of the globe 
men lived nearly as they now live in these remote regions. I 
cannot, therefore, persuade myself that even in those climates 
it is necessary for man to support his own life by the destruc- 
tion of other animated beings. We find no part of the globe 
habitable by man which is not stocked with herbivorous animals. 
The Pesserais of Cape Horn is clothed with the skin of the gu- 
anicoe (a species of deer). At the northern extremity of 
the same continent, the buffalo, the moose-deer (or elk), the 
musk ox, common deer, squirrels, hares, rabbits, mice, and 
other animals, which draw their nutriment from the earth, are 
found in abundance as h\g-\i as the 7 1st deo-ree of north lati- 
tude, besides a plentiful stock of bears, Avolves, foxes, wolverme*, 
and other carnivorous animals, which ai-e sustained indirectly 
from the same source. Where the support of every species of 
animals is so abundant, it is inconceivable that the earth should 
deny to man alone a salubrious and innocent repast. 

In these regions the transition from their long and gloomy 
"winter and summer heat is immediate, and nature compensates 
for the short duration of the season of vegetation by its great 
rapidity and luxuriance. The heat is at this time as great as 
in our own climate at the same season. The country becomes 
covered with verdure, and teems with life. Near the North 
Cape, the Ultima TJmle of Europe, rich pastures that w^ant 
no cultivation, and beautiful natural meadows are to be seen. 
And even at the very extremity, which forms the cape itself, 
in the 7 1st degree of north latitude, were found growing some 
plants of angelica, a salubrious vegetable. The arctic regions 
are not even without their delicacies, imknov/n to other coun- 
tries. The berry-bearing plants are particularly abundant. 
The Tuhus chamoBmorns, a large kind of raspberry, is plentiful ; 
and the rubus arcticus, a plant of the same genus, bears a fruit 
superior in fragrance and flavor to the strawberry and rasp- 



IX CHRONIC DISEASES. 119 

berry, and to all other fruit of tlie same kind, even of the 
choicest productions of Italy. A small plateful of this fruit is 
the most exquisite of perfumes. 

These considerations show sufficiently how futile is this plea 
of necessity. On the contrary, they render it sufficiently evi- 
dent that, in whatever part of the habitable globe man can ex- 
ist, there vegetable nutriment may either be found or be raised ; 
that in no situation fit for the habitation of man is the earth 
devoid of prolific power sufficient to satisfy his wants, and even 
to gratify his palate. 

This plea of necessity is contradicted even by experience ; 
for, from the latest accounts which have been published, agri- 
culture has at length penetrated these remote regions. The 
potato cultivation has been several years quite general at Lyn- 
gen, in Lapland, situated under the 7 0th degree of north lati- 
tude, and the same is called a blessed corn country. Agricul- 
ture is practiced likewise at Alten ; this is the most northern 
agriculture of the world. 

x\.s men, even in the rudest state of society, display a higher 
degree of intellectual power than other animals, which is ap- 
plied both to the gaining of food and every other object con- 
ducive to his well beinq; it is aro^ued that this makes so essen- 
tial a difference between men and other animals, that we can- 
not apply to man the reasoning that is acknowledged to be 
conclusive with regard to others. In animals guided by in- 
stinct, it is true that we see a very exact adaptation of their 
form and powers to the objects of their desires and appetites. 
We may, therefore, in these commonly infer from their con- 
formation the mode of life to which they are fitted. But supe- 
rior powers having been given to man by the medium of a 
higher order of intellect, we must give him a wider field of ac- 
tion, nor suppose that nothing can be suited to his nature which 
happens not to be within the reach of his unaided physical powers. 

I would allow so much weio-ht to this aro-ument as never to 
permit theoretical reasoning to weigh for a moment against the 
results of experience. The intellect of man is as much a part 
of his proper nature as his bodily frame, given him ^irely 
to promote his well being. But I suspect that its power over 
the organization must necessarily be very limited. For a well- 
organized frame of body must be thought to be a possession 
anterior to all other improvements, and the instrument which 
the intellect itself makes use of to acquire the materials of all 
other improvements. In a certain degree it appears essential to 
the intellect itself, and connatural with it. It follows, then, 



120 VEGETABLE DIET 

that a just bodily organization is neither the object nor the 
consequence of intellectual culture. It is rather the gift of na- 
ture, which is saying, nearly, that it results from natural habits. 
In fact, it has ever been more the effect of some happy com- 
bination of fortuitous circumstances than of desio-n or wisdom. 

On the place which man holds in the scale of animated be- 
ings, all naturalists are agreed. There are those, indeed, who 
deem it a sort of degradation to the human species to class 
mankind with monkeys, apes, and baboons, and to show the 
analogy of his structure with that of the orang-outang. But 
misplaced piide and an ignorant misapprehension cannot alter 
the nature of thino^s. Our very lano-uao-e acknowledo-es the 
reality of the analogy between the races ; mGiikey can mean 
nothing but mannikin, or little man. In insisting on this anal- 
ogy we limit ourselves to physical facts which are undeniable. 
But granting it to be perfectly correct, it does not follow that 
man in consequence approaches more nearly to the nature of the 
monkey than he does to that of the otter, except in the single 
circumstance of the choice of food. The monkey is not in any 
respect superior to the otter, or the fox, or the beaver, or any 
other animal. In his nobler part, his rational soul, man is dis- 
tinguished from the wliole tribe of animals by a boundary 
which cannot be passed. It is only when man divests himself 
of his reason, and debases himself by brutal habits, that he re- 
nounces his just rank among created beings, and shiks himself 
below the level of the beasts. 

If the question were proposed whether man v;ere by nature 
intended to walk erect, or, like the animals, upon all-fours, 
from the mode in which the head is united to the spine, from 
the narrowness of the ischiadic bones, from the structure and 
position of the socket of the thigh, from the whole compages 
of the feet, I should conclude with confidence that the erect 
position was the most natural to the human species. Looking 
upon man merely as an animal, I should likewise conclude, 
from the structure of the hand, the form of the mouth, the artic- 
ulation of the under jaw, the teeth, the stomach, the caecum, the 
colon, and the length of the intestines; from all these circum- 
stances, I say, I should conclude, that vegetable food is that 
which is most natural to man."-^' Many, indeed, assert that man 

* I have argued at some length in my " Reports on Cancer," that man 
is in his structure herbivorous. This appears to me to be a question of 
extreme importance, and I have therefore thought it might be useful to 
give on this subject the sentiments of a writer who has made compara- 
tive anatomy a peculiar object of his study. The following quotation is 
from the article " Man," in Dr. Rees's Encyclopedia, written by Mr. 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 121 

has a structure between that of the herbivorous and carnivorous 
tribes. Those who argue thus, acknowledge that we ought to 

Lawrence, assistant-surgeon of St. Bartholemew's Hospital. " The pre- 
sent seems a veiy proper place for considering a question that is fre- 
quently agitated on this subject, whether man approaches most nearly to 
the carnivorous or herbivorous animals in his structure 1 We naturally 
expect to find in the figure and construction of the teeth a relation to the 
kind of food w^hich an animal subsists on. The carnivorous have very 
long and pointed cuspidati or canine teeth, wnich are employed as wea- 
pons of offence and defence, and are very serviceable in seizing and 
lacerating their prey ; these are three or four times as long as the other 
teeth in some animals, as the lion, tiger, etc., and constitute very formid- 
able weapons. The grinding teeth have their bases elevated into pointed 
prominences, and those of the lower shut within those of the upper jaw. 
In the herbivorous animals these terrible canine teeth are not found, and 
the grinders have broad surfaces opposed in a vertical line to each other in 
the two jaws ; enamel is generally intermixed with the bone of the tooth 
in the latter, and thus produces ridges on the grinding surface, by which 
their operation on the food is increased ; in the former it is confined alto- 
gether to the surface. For further details on this subject see mammalia. 
The articulation ofthe lower jaw differs very remarkably in the two kinds 
of animals : in the carnivorous it can only move forward and backward ; 
in the herbivorous it has, moreover, motion from side to side. Thus, we 
observe in the flesh eaters, teeth calculated only for tearing, and subser- 
vient in part, at least, to the procuring of food as well as to purposes 
of defence, and an articulation of the lower jaw that precludes all lateral 
motion ; in those which live on vegetables the form of the teeth and na- 
ture of the joint are calculated for the lateral or grinding motion; the 
former swallow the food in masses, while in the latter it undergoes con- 
siderable comminution before it is swallowed. The teeth of man have 
not the slightest resemblance to those of the carnivorous animals, except 
that their enamel is confined to the external surface ; he possesses, indeed, 
teeth called canine, but they do not exceed the level of the others, and 
are obviously unsuited to the purposes which the corresponding teeth 
execute in carnivorous animals. These organs, in short, very closely re- 
semble the teeth of monkeys, except that the canine are much longer 
and stronger in the latter animals. In the freedom of lateral motion, the 
lower jaw of the human subject resembles that of herbivorous animals. 
In the form of the stomach again, and, indeed, in the structure of the 
whole alimentary canal, man comes much nearer to the monkey than to 
any other animal. The length and divisions of the intestinal tube are 
very different, according to the kind of food employed. In the proper 
carnivorous animals, the canal is very short, and the large intestine is 
cylindrical ; in the herbivora, the former is very long, and there is either 
a complicated stomach or a very large caecum and a sacculated colon. In 
comparing the length of the intestines to that of the body in man, and in 
other animals, a difficulty arises on account of the legs, which are in- 
cluded in the former and left out in the latter ; hence the comparative 
length of the intestinal tube is stated at less than it ought to be in man. 
If allowance be made for this circumstance, man will be placed on nearly 
the same line with the monkey race, and will be removed to a consider- 
able distance from the proper carnivora. Soemmerring states, that the 
intestinal canal of man varies from three to eight times the length of the 
body. (De Corp. Hum. Tab. t. 6, p. 200.) In Tyson's chimpansee of 
6 



122 VEGETABJLE DIET 

and down, and live like them upon the substances to which his 
instinct would direct hira, and which his physical powers 
would enable him to collect. Tliese would probably be in 
harmony, as we find them in all other animals. 

As man is devoid of all natural clothing, we must suppose 
him placed in the tropical regions ; here the air is always of a 
genial warmth ; the fertility of the earth is abundant, and it is 
confined to no particular season ; and the shade of the trees 
would protect him from the oppression of a vertical sun. The 
same trees which shelter would yield the principal part of his 
sustenance. Thus the fruit of trees would appear to be the 
most natural species of diet. Rousseau says it is the most 
abundant; as he has convinced himself from having compared 
the produce of two pieces of land of equal area and qual,*1,y, 
the one sown with wheat, and the other planted with chesnut- 
trees.* 

But man would not confine himself to fruits, or the produce 
of trees ; he is formed equally for climbing, and for walking on 
the ground ; his eye may be directed with equal ease to objects 
above him and on the earth. His arm has a corresponding 
latitude of motion. 

Man must have been fed previous to the invention of any 
art, even the simple one of making a bow and arrows. He 
could not then have lived by prey, since all the animals excel 
him in swiftness. There is no antipathy between man and other 
animals which indicates that nature has intended them for acts 
of mutual hostility. Numerous observations of travelers and 
voyagers have proved that in uninhabited islands, or in other 
countries where animals are not disturbed or hunted, they 
betray no fear of men ; the birds will suffer themselves to be 
taken by the hand ; the foxes will appro^ich him like a dog. 
These are no feeble indications that nature intended to live in 
peace with the other tribes of animals. 

Least of all would instinct prompt him to use the dead body 
of an animal for food. The siefht of it would rather excite hor- 
aror, compassion, and aversion. In a warm climate, putrefac- 
tion succeeding immediately to dissolution, dead flesh must 
speedily diffuse an offensive odor, and occasion insuperable 
loathing and disgust. 

* The bread-fmit tree appears to support the most abundant popula- 
tion. Dr. Forster, compariug the parts of Otaheite which are best cul 
tivated with those of France under the same cii'cumstances, calculated 
the population, about the year 1774, to be to that of the latter nearly as 
Beventeen to one. — Forster' s Oi ssrvatiom, 22Q. 



IN CHRONIC 0ISEASE5. 123 

Living wholly upon vegetables without culinary preparation,- 
our man of nature could never experience thirst. Even intense 
heat does not appear to excite thirst, unless it be upon bodies 
injured by a depraved and unnatural diet. He would have no 
call therefore to the use of liquids, further than as they are 
contained in the juices of the fruits and esculent plants which 
he vTould eat. Drinking would be needless ; it is an action 
which does not appear suited to the natural organization of 
man after the infant state, 

Imally, it is higiily probable that man under these circum- 
stances, considered as a mere animal, would arrive at a high 
degree of physical perfection ; that he would have a body duly 
formed, and a robust frame; great vigor, great activity, and 
uninterrupted health, I cannot think, however, that this state 
is comparable to the benefits of civiUzation ; such an opinion is 
an extravagance which can be maintained only from the love 
of paradox and singularity. This fancied state of nature ex- 
cludes the very notion of morality, and admits not of intellec- 
tual improvement, principles which form the most proud dis- 
tinction of the human race. 

Though this picture is in a good measure the creature of the 
imagination, there having been found no tribes of men who 
depend for their subsistence solely upon their physical powers, 
yet solitary examples have not been unfrequent in which indi- 
viduals have really subsisted by no other means. Such are the 
wild men, the homines sylvestres of Linnaeus, who have been 
found in the forests, even in Europe, In intellect these did 
not appear to be superior to the animals, their associates ; which 
must have resulted from having been secluded from all con- 
verse with their species. But they Avere in perfect health, and 
possessed incredible activity. They could have used nothinrr 
but fresh vegetable food ; this was the sort of food of which 
they were the fondest ; the want of it seems to have been the 
principal object of their regret, and the motive for attempting 
to retui^n to their accustomed mode of life, as they constantly 
did. 

If men ever lived nearly in the manner I have described, it 
is obvious that this condition could not continue, Man is by 
nature gregarious ; and has naturally both the will and the 
power of communicating his ideas by the inflections of his voice. 
I have heard a child of three months old call for the breast by 
a distinct and peculiar note. Knowledge must therefore spring- 
up and increase. Arts would be invented, and man would call 
his ingenuity in aid of his physical force. The pride of reason 



J24 VEGETABLE DIET 

ror, compassion, and aversion. In a waim climate, putrefac- 
tion succeeding immediately to dissolution, dead flesh must 
speedily diffuse an offensive odor, and occasion insuperable 
loathino^ and disofust. 

Living wholly upon vegetables without culinary preparation, 
our man of nature could never experience thirst. Even intense 
heat does not appear to excite thirst, unless it be upon bodies 
injured by a depraved and unnatural diet. He would have no 
call therefore to the use of liquids, further than as they are 
contained in the juices of the fruits and esculent plants which 
he would eat. Drinking would be needless ; it is an action 
which does not appear suited to the natural organization of 
man after the infant state. 

Finally, it is highly probable that man under these circum- 
stances, considered as a mere animal, would arrive at a high 
degree of physical perfection ; that he would have a body duly 
formed, and a robust frame; great vigor, great activity, and 
uninterrupted health. I cannot think, however, that this state 
is comparable to the benefits of civilization ; such an opinion is 
an extravagance which can be maintained only from the love 
of paradox and singularity. This fancied state of nature ex- 
cludes the very notion of morality, and admits not of intellec- 
tual improvement, principles which form the most proud dis- 
tinction of the human race. 

Though this picture is in a good measure the creature of the 
imagination, there having been found no tribes of men who 
depend for their subsistence solely upon their physical powers, 
yet solitary examples have not been unfrequent in which indi- 
viduals have really subsisted by no other means. Such are the 
wild men, the homines sylvestres of Linnaeus, who have been 
found in the forests, even in Europe. In intellect these did 
not appear to be superior to the animals, their associates ; which 
must have resulted from having been secluded from all con- 
verse with their species. But they were in perfect health, and 
possessed incredible activity. They could have used nothing 
but fresh vegetable food ; this was the sort of food of which 
they were the fondest ; the want of it seems to have been the 
principal object of their regret, and the motive for attempting 
to return to their accustomed mode of life, as they constantly 
did. 

If men ever lived nearly in the manner I have described, it 
is obvious that this condition could not continue. Man is by 
nature gregarious ; and has naturally both the will and the 
power of communicating his ideas bj' the inflections of his voice. 



IN CHRONIC DISE'SES. 125 

I have heard a child of three months old call for the breast by 
a distinct and peculiar note. Knowledge must therefore spring 
up and increase. Arts would be invented, and man would call 
his ingenuity in aid of his ph^^sical force. The pride of reason 
and the wantonness of power would extend his dominion, engen- 
der artificial "wants, and make him the enemy and the t3a-ant of 
his more feeble and less crafty companions. No society of 
men has been observed in which the procuring and preparation 
of food has not been a work of some deo-ree of skill and inofe- 
nuity. The savage, the pastoral, and the agricultural states 
comprehend the principal forms of society under which men 
are found to live. 

The energies of the savage are almost wholly absorbed in 
the search of food ; the chase, and such vegetables as grow 
spontaneously being his sole dependence. The materials which 
support life being very scanty, population must be proportion- 
ally limited ; and war seems necessary to secure to him the 
undivided possession of his precarious means of subsistence. 
His mind is cono-enial to his situation : the hostile and furious 
passions have uncontrolled possession of his soul ; he delights 
in the infliction of wounds and death; he is a stranger to 
remorse, to compassion, and to sympathy ; he knows not the 
charms of benevolence ; even love in his obdurate bosom is but 
a transient spark. This state is, by those who have not very 
definite ideas of things, confounded with the imaginary state of 
nature ; and some have concluded, from the vices of the savage 
state, that man is naturally cruel, ferocious, and malevolent. 
But this state is totally distinct from what must be supposed 
to be the state of nature. It is one in which instinct is the most 
completely annihilated, and reason is the most feeble. The 
qualities of the savage are the direct result of situation and 
mode of life. If the proper nature of man is to be improvable 
without limit, by the force of intellect, the condition of the 
savage, so far from being natural, is that which recedes the 
farthest from the state of nature. 

The period of individual existence appears in this state to be 
short. So many are cut off by violence (for their wars are 
indiocriminate massacres, in which neither age nor sex are 
spared), that it is impossible to conjecture what proportion 
would reach old age. But we are assured by a faithful obser- 
ver of the northern tribes, that among them a woman is old 
and wrinkled at thirty. 

By the simple arts of fencing in the land, and preserving a 
portion of the natural herbage for winter fodder, man became 



126 • VEGETABLE DIET 

enabled to domesticate some tribes of animals. By a regular 
supply of food, the number of these animals is greatly increas- 
ed, so that they form a portion of the artificial population of 
cultivated countries. Over T^\ese tribes, he has assumed de- 
spotic power ; he uses their labor, and applies both their milk 
and their flesh to his own sustenance. Man then became a 
shepherd, and by this transition he very much improved his 
condition. Food being more abundant, population increased ; 
and from an increased sense of security, manners would become 
less ferocious. Still civilization would be very imperfect. All 
the hordes of barbarians, who have desolated kingdoms and 
subverted empires, were pastoral tribes, drawing their chief 
subsistence from their flocks and herds. 

Nor is it certain that by giving life to these new tribes of 
animals, man has conferred upon them any real blessing. One 
fact alone may make us hesitate on this subject. It appears 
impossible to keep the domestic animals in a state of subjection 
without mutilating the males, excepting a few who are pre- 
served for the purpose of propagation. It may fairly be in- 
quired whether this shocking outrage on the common rights of 
nature, this cutting asunder of the link which connects the in- 
dividual with his common species, does not more than counter- 
balance all the pleasures which any being may be supposed to 
derive from the mere enjoyment of animal life. 

The cultivation of the earth, and the direct application of its 
various productions to human subsistence, seems to be the 
limit of improvement in the arts essential to the support of life. 
By the exercise of this beneficial art, myriads of human beings 
are. called into life who could otherwise have never existed. 
By its introduction, a great revolution was commenced in the 
relations of neighboring communities. The cultivator being di- 
rectly interested in the preservation of public tranquillity, and 
the causes vv^hich fostered hostility and rancor being removed, 
nations became disposed to suspend their animosities, and rather 
to contribute to the promotion of their mutual welfare, which 
became to all a common source of prosperity. Internal order 
became, too, as necessary as external security. Thus, peace 
and the empire of the law would succeed to strife, violence, and 
anarchy. It seems no visionary or romantic speculation to con- 
jecture that if all mankind confined themselves for their sup- 
port to the productions supplied by the culture of the earth, 
war, with its attendant misery and horrors, might cease to be 
one of the scourges of the human race. 

Nor are the efi'ects of agriculture less favorable to private 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 127 

^appiness than to public prosperity. Probably there is not 
one of the real wants of life which may not be supplied directly 
from the soil : food, clothing, light, heat, the materials of 
houses, and the instruments needful for their construction. By 
its means, not only is population increased to an indefinite tjx- 
tent, but the happiness of each individual is greatly augmenied. 
It multiplies enjoyments by presenting to the organs an infinite 
variety of new and agreeable impressions, which are of themi- 
selves, to an unvitiated palate, abundantly sufficient for the 
gratifications of sense. Indeed, every taste, that is truly ex- 
quisite, is afforded by the vegetable kingdom. In a wretched 
state of perversion must be the digesting organs and palate of 
the man who has lost his relish for these pure, simple, and in- 
nocent delights. Agriculture disseminates man over the sur- 
face of the soil ; it diffuses health, prosperity, joy, society, 
benevolence ; from it spring all the charities of life, and it 
makes a common family of the whole human race. If those 
who confine themselves to its precious gifts cannot, without 
other precautions, escape diseases, these are at least more mild 
in their form, and more slow in their progress ; longevity is 
promoted, the final stroke is received with tranquillity, and 
death is disarmed of its terrors. 

The primeval command of the Deity to our first parents was, 
" Subdue the earth." The labors of agriculture fulfill this first 
command, and men, in their providing for their own necessities, 
pay the homage of obedience to the divine will. The reflect- 
ing mind, upon contemplating the strict connection between the 
exercise of this art, and the well-being of human society, can 
hardly abstain from the inquiry, whether man can perform any 
act of religion more grateful to the Author of his existence. 

We find, by looking on things as they really are, that in al- 
most all societies of men, which have attained any tolerable 
degree of civilization, in a certain degree the arts of all the dif- 
ferent stages of society continue to be practiced. Men hunt 
and fish, and live partly upon the produce, be it of their plea- 
sure or their toil. They keep domestic animals, and they till 
the earth. Thus, in fact, the manners of savage, of pastoral, 
and agricultural life are blended together. And in the pro- 
gress of the arts it has so happened that the things which, in a 
rude state of society, were the most plentiful, become the most 
scanty ; and, inversely, things which could hardly be procured 
in the first stages of society became gradually highly abun- 
dant, and of little relative value. 

Thus, in th^ rude beginnings of human society, the flesh of 



128 VEGETABLE DIET 

animals or fish is obtained with infinitely greater ease than tho 
produce of the earth. Savages, and even early colonists, kill 
animals for their furs or their hides, their flesh being often left 
to perish, as of no value ; and even in advanced stages of civili- 
zation, the price of meat was either less or equal to that of 
bread. But this jDroportion becomes gradually reversed. 

By cultivation, vegetable productions become so abundant 
as to be brought Avithin the reach of the mass of mankind, and 
cheaper than any of the other substances which are used as 
food. Indeed, according to all the present experience of man- 
kind, in free countries, vegetable food increases with the de- 
mand caused by an increase of population, so that this increase 
is not the cause but the effect of increased population. All 
apprehensions of evil from an over-abundance of people, ap- 
pear, in European countries at least, to be visionary. Death 
seems very rarely, even in the poorest class of the people, 
to be caused, in ordinary seasons, b)'' a want of food. Excess, 
and the abuse of the gifts of Providence, is productive of much 
more evil. It is not the parsimony of Nature wdiich is the pro- 
lific source of vice and misery, but the wastefulness and prodi- 
gality of men, and the abuses resulting from an excessive 
inequality in the distribution of wealth — a distribution which is 
as much a misfortune to those who are raised above the due 
level as those who are sunk below it. To use the energetic 
language of our sublime and virtuous poet, Milton — 

" If every just man, that now pines with want, 
Had but a moderate and beseeming share 
Of that which lewdly pampered luxury 
Now heaps upon some few with vast excess, 
Nature's full blessings would be well dispensed 
In unsuperfluous even proportion, 
And she no whit encumbered with her store. 
And then the Giver would be better thanked, 
His praise due paid ; for swinish gluttony 
Ne'er looks to Heaven amidst his gorgeous feast, 
But with besotted base ingratitude 
Crams, and blasphemes his Feeder." 

But to return to our argument. This relative dearness of 
animal food, compared to that of the most common vegetables, 
making its use a species of privilege confined to persons in easy 
circumstances, the silly vanity of distinguishing themselves from 
the hard-working classes has conspired with the gratifications 
of the palate to make animal food to be esteemed by such per- 
sons one of the real necessaries of life. It is so habitual to 
them, that the greater part of such persons think it impossible 



IN CUnOMC DISE iSES. 129 

to live witliout it, and any proposal of the kind appears in their 
eyes either a monstrous barbarity or a ridiculous absurdity. 
They are tormented with iraaginarj^ terrors, and they conceive 
it to be an experiment full of danger ; though in every period 
of history it has been known that vegetables alone are sufficient 
for the support of life, and though the bulk of mankind live 
upon them at this hour. So perverted are the judgments of 
men ; since, really (I speak it not in the spirit of ridicule or of 
asperity, but as a deduction from the most simple survey of the 
progress of human manners) the adherence to the use of animal 
food is no more than a persistence in the gross customs of 
savage life, and evinces an insensibility to the progress of rea- 
son, and the operation of intellectual improvement. This habit 
must be considered to be one of the numerous relics of that 
ancient barbarism which has overspread the face of the globe, 
and which still taints the manners of civihzed nations. 

Where reason has interfered, and has exercised any influence 
on the manners of men, its voice has always been raised in 
favor of simple diet. Some ancient legislators are said to have 
confined the diet of the people to the fruits of the earth ; a 
report which is ver}'- credible by what we know of the insti- 
tutions of Hindostan, and the remote antiquity to which they 
reach. 

Many sects both in ancient and modern times have inculcated 
on their adherents the same abstinence as a duty of religion. 
The Romans, in the purer days of the republic, favored the 
same maxims : their Fannian and Licinian laws limited the 
allowance of animal food, while that of vegetable matter was 
unrestricted. But laws are forced to bend to the existino- habits 

O 

and prejudices of the people for whom they are made. A good 
man will reverence the laws of his countrj^ But there is a law 
more sacred, to which he will make his own actions conform : 
the voice of the inward monitor, which informs him that he 
should act in all things of moment according to the dictates 
of right reason. 

Can a practice be conformable to reason which stifles the 
best feelings of the human heart ? By long habit and fami- 
liarity with scenes of blood, we have come to view them with- 
out emotion. But look at a young child who is told that the 
chicken which it has fed and played with is to be killed. Are 
not the tears it sheds, and the ao-onies it endures, the voice of 
nature itself crying within us and pleading the cause of human- 
ity ? We cannot hear even a fly assailed by a spider without 
compassion — without wishina; to relieve its distress, and to re- 
6* 



130 VEGETABLE DIET 

pel its enemy. The coldness of philosophical inquiry may per- 
haps lead us to doubt whether the sound it emits, which is no 
more than a vibration of its wings, is really an index of pain; 
and wiiether we ought not to sympathize as much with the hun- 
ger of the spider as with the pain of the fly. The emotion, 
however, is natural and unavoidable. To suffer from the suffer- 
ings of any other sentient beings, and to have the sensibility 
aroused by the expressions of suflFering, is, among civilized men, 
an essential property of human nature ; and as such, it ought 
surely to be a law to man — a guide of human conduct. 

How closely the use of a temperate regimen is connected 
Avith morality and with intellectual excellence seems to have 
been perfectly understood by the masters of ancient wisdom. 
Plato Las said that " no one is bad spontaneously ; but that bad 
morals proceed from some depi'aved habit of body, or from neg- 
lected education." He must therefore have thought a proper 
regimen to be a fundamental part of a moral education. Indeed, 
he has expressly enumerated this among the other instruments 
of forming the human character : " Of much efficacy are the 
customs, either political or domestic, in which men are brought 
up, and the daily manner of life, either fortifying or corrupting 
the mind ; for exposure to the air, simple aliments, gymnastic 
exercises, and the manners of associates have the greatest in- 
fluence in disposing either to virtue or vice." 

It is allowed that men should be guided by reason ; no truth 
can be more evident. But let us well understand what is meant 
by the term. By reason wc cannot surely mean that feeble 
glimmering of light which just enables the mass of mankind 
to grope through the gloomy paths of life, and to pass a few 
fretful 3"ears in a vain pursuit of happiness. The reason of in- 
dividuals (if, indeed, it deserves the name) is commonly just 
sufficient to conduct them through the habitual occupations of 
the day ; but the bulk of mankind are quite unable to compre- 
hend the bearings of a complex argument, and still more to 
trace effects to their remote causes. Nor is this the case with 
the vulgar merel}^ for so limited is the human capacity, tliat 
the most exalted genius, and the deepest powers of investiga- 
tion, have not been able to raise their possessors above the 
errors and prejudices of their age, on the subjects which have 
not been made the peculiar objects of their reflections. 

Mankind have therefore had recourse to artificial aids to the 
feebleness of individual reason, as the guides of life, and the 
preservers of the social order ; to the writings of sages ; to 
maxims, proverbs, and apothegms which condense as it were 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 131 

the experience of ages; to the institution of wholesome cus- 
toms ; the establishment of just laws ; to the sanctions of reli- 
gious truth. 

There is then a superior and more exalted reason, which con- 
sists in the perception of truths founded in the constant relations 
of things, in obedience to the fixed and immutable laws of 
Nature. This is the reason which has informed the spirit of 
philosophers, of heroes and legislators, of those who have im- 
proved the arts of life, or extended the boundaries of know- 
ledge. This reason we cannot but conceive to be a kind of 
emanation from the eternal fountain of truth. This the reason, 
the empire of which ought to be established on earth. The 
experience of the past gives no very favorable omens for the 
future ; but genuine philanthrophy must prompt us to consider 
its promotion as the object the most deserving of our exertions, 
directly tending to diffuse genuine civilization, and all the bless- 
ings depending upon it. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



On the use of spirituous and fermented liquors. — Spices. — Man by nature 

not a drinking animal. 

In the use of animal food, man having deviated from the sim- 
ple aliment offered him by the hand of Nature, and which is 
the best suited to his organs of digestion, he has brought upon 
himself a premature decay, and much intermediate suffering 
which is connected with it. To this habit almost all nations 
that have emerged from a state of barbarism have united the 
use of some spirituous and fermented liquors. As the course of 
my inquiries has taken a range somewhat extensive, I have 
thought it right not wholly to overlook the effects of these 
liquors on the human body ; but having little that is original to 
offer on the subject, it shall be comprised in as few words as 
possible. 

The use of fermented liquor^ is, in some measure, a neces- 
sary concomitant and appendage to the vise of animal food. 
Animal food, in a great number of persons, loads the stomach, 
causes some degree of oppression, fullness, and uneasiness, and 
if the measure of it be in excess, some nausea, and tendency 



132 VEGETABLE DIET 

to sickness. Sucli persons say, meat is too heavy for their 
stomach. Fish is still more apt to nauseate. We find that the 
use of fermented liquors takes off these uneasy feelings. It is 
thought to assist the digestion. Probably, its real utility arise? 
from the strong, and at the same time agreeable, impression \i 
makes on the stomach, whicli counteracts the uneasiness aris- 
ing from the solid part of our aliment.. Thus the food sit? 
lighter on the stomach, and digestion goes on more com- 
fortably. 

It is in vain to attempt to determine the question of the sa- 
lubrity or insalubrity of these liquors from the evidence and 
pretended experience of those who use them. Very many per- 
sons have enjoyed improved health from the total abandonment 
of all fermented liquors, and confining themselves to water. 
These are, of course, enemies of fermented liquors, and preach- 
ers of temperance. But others, again, assert, with the same 
confidence, that they receive benefit from a moderate use of 
these liquors, and even that they cannot live without them. I 
do not see why these persons are not as worthy of credit as 
their opponents. They must be supposed to give a fiuthful 
account of their own feelings at least. This conflicting testi- 
mony, like so many others with regard to the operation of sub- 
stances upon the human body, is an additional proof that, in 
such investigation, we must look beyond the primary effect of 
things, and can determine little or nothing from the agreeable 
or uneasy feelings which may immediately arise from them. 
For the ultimate efl:ect (whicli it is of the most consequence 
to determine), we must have recourse to some more correct 
criterion. 

Perhaps the oppugners of fermented liquors weaken their in- 
fluence by pushing their hostility too far, and contradicting the 
common experience of mankind. They deny that such liquors 
give strength, and use some refined arguments to establish their 
doctrine. The bodily strength furnished by beer. Dr. Franklin 
said, can only be in proportion to the solid part of the barley 
dissolved in the water ; and from this he argued, that a penny 
loaf would give more strength than a pint of beer. But men 
will not be so talked out of their feelings. Universal experience 
shows, undoubtedly, that fermented liquors, used in modera- 
tion, commonly augment for a time the muscular strength. 
And hence we are taught, that stimulation causes temporary 
strength. 

In fact, food itself raises the muscular strength, in conse- 
quence of its application to the surface of the stomach ; for we 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 133 

feel stronger immediately after eating, and before the food is 
digested, or absorbed into the sanguiferous sj^stem. All the 
muscles of the body sympathize Avith this membrane. 

Fermented liquors raise the strength by impressing the brain 
in a manner analogous to animal food. For, like animal food, 
they increase the color of the face, which is an index that they 
excite and stimulate all the small vessels of the brain. Mr. 
Strutt, in his View of Manners and Customs (cited by Dr. 
Beddoes), quotes a play of the time of Henry the Eighth or 
Elizabeth, in which a citizen declares he has sent his dauMiter 
in a morning as far as Pimhco, " to get a draught of ale to put 
a color into her cheeks." This increase of color passes for a 
sign of increased health. 

But to estimate the effects of these substances, we must look 
at the whole of their properties. The first and most important 
of these properties is, that they diminish the appetite and im- 
pair the powers of digestion. Water drinkers are well known 
to have much keener appetites than the drinkers of beer. This 
is commonly used as a proof of the wholesomeness of water, 
but it really shows only the noxious power of beer. Low wo- 
men of unprincipled habits give gin even to their infants, that 
the}^ may eat less bread. It is clear, from these facts, that 
fermented liquors sap and imdermine the very sources of life. 
All permanent health and strength must be derived from a 
sound stomach and perfect digestion of the food. 

Fermented liquors have also a strong narcotic power. 
Though they do not cause sleep (at least with the same power 
and certainty as opium), they remarkably diminish the sensi- 
bility of the nervous system. Hence they destroy and diminish 
many uneasy feelings. They take off the uneasiness of hunger, 
the uneasiness of lassitude, and the uneasiness of cold. These 
are some of the greatest evils that the poor man suffers, and, in 
consequence, he flies to the use of spirits, heedless or ignorant 
of the ultimate consequence. To so great a degree is the sen- 
sibility of the body impaired by spirits, that a drunkard has 
been known to cut off his fingers in a fit of intoxication, with- 
out apparent suffering, and with no recollection of what had 
happened when the drunken fit was over. 

Besides this great, and, as it were, violent diminution of sen- 
sibility, under the immediate impression of fermented liquors, 
there appears also to be a permanent diminution of sensibility, 
in persons habitually using them, which extends to all the or- 
gans. The spirit undergoes no change in the stomach, but it 
is absorbed into the circulating mass; it is applied to the whole 



134 VEGETABLE DIET 

body, and is finally eliminated by all the excretory organs. If 
therefore they are habitually used, the body is constantly under 
their influence in a greater or less degree. The well-known 
fact, that persons who abstain from fermented liquors have a 
much greater delicacy of taste than those of opposite habits, 
may be cited as a proof that the sensibility of the latter is rad- 
ically impaired. What is true of the tongue and palate is 
true, probably, of the whole nervous system. 

Observations on savages illustrates this fact more strongly. 
They have been often observed to have a much greater perfec- 
tion of the senses, as of the eyesight and hearing, than Euro- 
peans usually possess. As the fact is sufficiently well known, 
it will be enough to cite a single observation in proof of it. A 
writer, mentioning a native of New Zealand, named Moy- 
hanger, says of him, " It was worthy of remark how much his 
sight and hearing were superior to other persons on board the 
ship ; the sound of a distant gun was distinctly heard, or a 
strange sail readily discernible by Moyhanger, when no other 
man could hear or perceive them." Now it certainly has never 
appeared that negroes, or savages of any sort, brought to 
Europe, and conforming to European manners, enjoy this or 
any other superiority over other persons. There is every rea- 
son to believe that there is no physical difference between the 
different tribes of mankind, except what is the result of differ- 
ent habits. As the tribe we are now considering used both 
flesh and fish in as great abundance as Europeans, the great 
superiority of the senses which the savage tribes enjoy cannot, 
with any probability, be attributed to any other cause tlian 
to their being unacquainted with the use of fermented liquors. 

It is hardly necessary to add that as large quantities of fer- 
mented liquors are highly deleterious, producing a total loss of 
muscular power, and an abolition nearly complete of all sensa- 
tion ; as these symptoms are not unfrequently fatal, the suspicion 
appears very just, that the perpetual ingurgitation of such mat- 
ters cannot be innocent, however moderate the quantity may 
be ; and that all the pleasure or the comfort which persons 
derive from such habits are gained at the ultimate expense of 
their health, and the abbreviation of their lives. 

It appears then that the advantages experienced from fer- 
mented liquors, and from animal food, are subject to the same 
limitations, and regulated by the same laws. There are many 
diseases of debility in which the radical strength of the consti- 
tution is unimpaired, and its powers adequate to the restoration 
of health. In such diseases the stimulus of animal food and of 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 135 

fermented liquors may have no sensible injury, or even may- 
produce great apparent advantages. But they must aggravate 
all habitual and constitutional diseases. The relief from pain 
or uneasiness which they procure is induced only by a species 
of stupefaction ; and the strength that they give is fiom stimu- 
lation merely, and induces premature and permanent weakness. 
In all diseases tending to death, and in which therefore there 
must be a radical loss of power, this stimulation must do harm. 
It excites action, which must further impair the strength and 
accelerate the fatal issue of the disease. 

This is a distinction which ought never for a single moment 
to be out of view. A want of attention to, or ignorance of the 
opposite effects of the same treatment in different states of the 
constitution, is what causes such diversity of opinion and in- 
consistent practices. A feeble child, with some external scrofu- 
lous disorder, for example, is made to use animal food and 
■\vine. Its color improves ; it grows stronger ; and if the dis- 
order is unaffected, the child at least appears in better health. 
The same practice therefore is transferred to another child, also 
said to be scrofulous, but with some much more formidable dis- 
ease — a Avhite swelling we may say, or a psoas abscess. Here 
it is impossible but this practice must be highly noxious. The 
inherent powers of the system are weakened ; and mere stimu- 
lation can never impart radical strength. On the contrary, it 
abbreviates life ; and the mischief done must in such cases be 
■\ery great and very sensible. 

The habitual use of fermented liquors is a cause of destruc- 
tion sufficient of itself to counteract all the good effects of diet 
b}^ no means insalubrious, and of situation which is more than 
commonly healthful. In the Pays de Vaud, in Switzerland, 
half who are born live to forty-one. Very nearly a fourth 
part live to three years of age, the great mortality being in the 
tirst year. But notwithstanding these strong indications of 
general salubrity, after forty the probabilities of living in this 
country decrease very fast ; and after sixty-five they appear to 
be rather lower than is common. "Mr. Muret," Dr. Price 
observes, "has taken notice of this fact, and ascribes it to 
the particular prevalence of drunkenness in his country. He 
had," he says, "once the curiosity to examine the register of 
deaths in one town, and to mark those whose deaths might be 
imputed to drunkenness, and he found the number so great as 
to incline him to believe that hard drinking kills more of man- 
kind than pleurisies and fevers, and all the most malignant dis- 
tempers," 



13G VEGETABLE DIET 

The species" of torpor or impaired sensibility, which I have 
attributed to the use of fermented hquors, is not a consequence 
of this practice only. Animal food produces it likewise, as is 
obvious from the improvement of the senses consequent upon 
relinquishing it, and using vegetable food only. As the putres- 
cent matter or Septic Poison of water is powerful enough to 
induce palsy (as I shall show hereafter), this substance, it is 
evident, must have an analogous effect. We may extend this 
remark to the digesting powers. The disuse of fermented 
liquors, the relinquishment of animal food, and the use of puri-. 
fied water, all increase the appetite and appear to strengthen 
the digestion. We may conclude then, that fermented liquors, 
animal food, and impure water injure the digesting powers. 
The same observation may be applied to the secreting powers, 
and the derangement of the other functions of the body. 

It must follow from these facts that these effects of dimin- 
ishing the sensibility of the nervous system, impairing the di- 
gestion, and deranging the other functions of the body are not 
to be deemed specific effects of these peculiar matters. They 
are rather to be deemed common effects and common signs of 
an injured vitality; and it seems probable that any applications 
or agents whatever, which diminish the powers of life and tend 
ultimately to destroy them, would have similar intermediate 
effects. 

This leads me to remark that the specific efi'ects of fermented 
liquors upon the body have not been hitherto precisely deter- 
mined. At least the diseases which are ascribed, and with great 
justice, to spirituous potations, often occurring where this evil 
custom cannot be traced, it is obvious to suspect that the 
hquors are not the sole agents, but are to be esteemed only as 
an accelerating and concurring cause in the production of these 
diseases. 

Physicians assert that the use of fermented liquors occasions 
dropsy, epilepsy, palsy, insanity, and other the greatest calami- 
ties incident to human nature. A multitude of observations 
which are constantly occurring to an}^ man Avho looks round 
him, give great probability to these opinions. For example, I 
was well acquainted with a gentleman who had been afflicted 
for eight years or more with the most acute and agonizing pains 
of the stomach attended with sickness and vomiting, and recur- 
ring at intervals. These pains finally ceased from no other 
cause, as far as it could be ascertained, tlian his becoming 
much more temperate, and wholly rehnquishing the use of 
spirits and water. Another person whom I well knew, a large, 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 137 

full man, advanced in years, was subject to attacks very nearly 
approaching to apoplexy. He lived in Herefordshire, and 
drank much cider. One year the crop of apples totally failed ; 
and the man being in reduced circumstances, his supply of 
cider failed likewise. The consequence was that during this 
time he escaped his customary attacks. 

Still, however, as these great diseases cannot be Avarded oft 
by the strictest temperance, they cannot be deemed the specific 
effect of the poison of alcohol, but rather must be regarded as 
the ultimate effect of various and concurring morbific powers, 
acting on different persons according to the susceptibility and 
predisposition of each individual. It can hardly be doubted 
that every agent has a distinct and pecuhar effect as well as a 
general effect. It is highly desirable that these should be duly 
defined. But I do not feel competent to this task, nor to elu- 
cidate the peculiar agency of each matter, further than by a rela- 
tion of the facts, which I propose to form the sequel of this work. 

That fermented liquors should be deleterious, induce disease, 
and shorten life, is so far from affordino- a reasonable (ground of 
complaint against the order of nature, that it is a proof of the 
wisdom and beneficence of the over-rulino- Power. Were it 
otherwise, the rich would be enabled absolutely to starve the 
poor, by their wasteful consumption of the articles of first 
necessity. To make a pint of w4ne, I suppose at least three or 
four pounds of grapes are used, enough amply to support a 
man for a day. The man, therefore, who drinks only his pint 
of wine daily, uses his own proper quantity of food, and destroys 
at the same time what might have been the food of another 
man. As the power of swallowing down wine is almost un- 
limited, to what an extent would this mischief spread, if it did not 
find its natural boundary in the destruction of life which such 
habits occasion ? All but the proprietors of the soil, and those 
living by their sufferance, would be swept from the surface of 
the earth. Property under such circumstances would be an 
evil wholly insufferable. 

The distilleries are reckoned servicable as beings a resource 
agamst famine in unfavorable seasons. But are not the evils 
which they induce much greater than those which they are 
thought to counteract? Do they not keep up a perpetual 
famine among the wives and families of thousands of mechanics, 
by tlie dissolute habits of the fathers which they engender, the 
loss of health,' and early deaths ? To convert the bread of the 
poor into poison, of all the abuses of the bounties of Providence, 
is the most flagrant and abominable. 



138 VEGETABLE DIET 

I must repeat on this what lias been already asserted with 
regard to other morbific agents, that its action is not the less 
real because it is slow, and the impression for a time is hardly 
perceptible. A wine drinker, on hearing his favorite liquor 
called a slow poison, is reported to have replied, " A very slow 
poison indeed ; I have used it daily these fifty years, and it 
has not killed me yet." And this is thought to be a very tri- 
umphant answer. But the same defence may be made of 
every bad habit whatever. Many bear them witli impunity, 
which proves, not the salubrity of the habit, but the flinty 
hardiness of a constitution with which they are blessed. 

The objections which are urged against the use of fermented 
liquors do not seem applicable to spices. However hot and 
fiery these are in the mouth, they do not appear to be delete- 
rious. They do not derange the brain, nor stupefy the nervous 
system ; they do not even appear to heat the body, nor greatly 
to accelerate the pulse. There cannot, therefore, be any ob- 
jection to the moderate use of such substances. The experi- 
ence and opinions of Mr. Bruce on this subject are, I think, 
worthy of attention, though not so immediately applicable to 
our own climate as to the more tropical regions. This writer 
asks : 

" But did they ever feel themselves heated by ever so great 
a quantity of black pepper ? Spirits, tliey think, substituted 
for this, answer the same purpose. But does not the heat of 
your skin, the violent pain in your head, while the spirits are 
filtering through the vessels of your brains, show the differ- 
ence ? When did any ever feel a like sensation from black 
pepper, or any pepper eaten to excess in every meal ? 

" I lay it down, then, as a positive rule of health, that the 
warmest dishes the natives delight in are the most wliolesome 
strangers can use in the putrid climates of Lower Arabia, Abys- 
sinia, Senaar, and Egypt itself, and that spirits and all fer- 
mented liquors should be regarded as poisons." 

Having condemned water, and attempted to show experi- 
mentally its noxious influence upon the system ; having con- 
demned spirituous and fermented liquors, from the authority 
of the most enliohtened medical writers and the common ex- 
perience of mankind, it must follow that there is no species of 
drinking which I approve. And, indeed, I have already ven- 
tured to assert that all drinking is an unnatural habit ; in other 
words, that man is not naturally a drinking animal. 

To those who cannot raise their views above the passing 
scene, who think that human nature must necessarily be in 



IN CHRCMC DISEASES. 139 

every situation the same as they observe it in their own town 
or viHage; to those, in short, who look for knowledge in the 
prattling of the drawing-room, or the gossip of the grocer's 
shop, I know that this appears a strange, if not a ridiculous 
assertion. We say, with great confidence, that water is abso- 
lutely necessary both to man and beast. But the strength of 
the evidence is not equal to the positiveness of the assertion. 

In fact, we know very little about the habits of animals, except 
of those whose natures we have changed and corrupted by do- 
mestication. All that the natural historian can do with regard 
to the wild species, is to describe their forms, and such of their 
qualities as have fallen under observation; these last must of 
necessity be very imperfect. Imperfect, however, as it is, we 
know enough to be certain that the assertion of the necessity 
of the use of water to animals is, to the extent to which it is 
carried, absolutely groundless. 

" I have known an owl of this species," (the brown owl) 
says M. White, " live a full year without any water. Perhaps 
the case may be the same with all birds of prey." There 
was a Llama of Peru shown in London, a year or two ago, 
which lived wholly without liquids ; it would not touch water. 
In some of the small islands on our coast, on which there is not a 
drop of water to be found, there are, 1 am told, rabbit-warrens. 
Bruce says, "That although Zimmer (an island of the Red Sea) 
is said to be witliout water, yet there are antelopes upon it, and 
also hyenas in numbers." To account for this, he suspects that 
there must be water in some subterraneous caves or clefts of 
the rocks. This, however, is only supposition. The argali, or 
Avild sheep, from the country in which it is found, it is certain, 
does not drink. Mr. Pallas says of it, " This animal lives upon 
desert mountains, which are dry and without wood, and upon 
rocks where there are many bitter and acrid plants." He fur- 
ther says of it, " There are no deer so wild as the argali ; it is 
almost impossible to come near it in hunting. They have an 
astonishing lightness and quickness in the chase, and they hold 
it a long time." How wonderfully, therefore, is this animal 
deteriorated by domestication, and by being forced to live in 
situations and to adopt habits unsuited to its nature ! 

Let us therefore consider man again, for a moment, as we 
may suppose him fresh from the hands of his Maker, and de- 
pending upon his physical powers only for his subsistence. We 
must suppose every animal so circumstanced, to be furnished by 
nature with organs suited to its physical necessities. Now I 
see that man has the head elevated above the ground, and to 



140 VEGETABLE DIET 

bring the mouth to the earth requires a strained and a painful 
effort. Moreover, the mouth is flat and the nose prominent, 
circumstances which make the effort still more difficult. In 
this position the act of swallowing a fluid is so painful and con- 
strained that it can hardly be performed. He has therefore no 
organ which is naturally suited to drinking. He cannot even 
convey a fluid into his mouth without the aid of some artifici;il 
instrument. The artifice is very simple, it is true. But still 
the body must be nourished anterior to all artificial knowledge. 
Nature seems therefore fully to have done her part towaid 
keeping men from the use of liquids. And doubtless on a diet 
of fruits and recent vegetables there would be no thirst, and no 
necessity for the use of hquids. 

If it be true therefore that other animals require water, it 
would not follow that man, whose organization is different, 
would require it likewise. But we, in fact, know very little of 
the habits of animals. Our common domestic animals certainly 
drink. But it appears, as far as my information extends, that 
common water has the same effect upon them as upon man ; 
and that they are more or less healthy, according to the purity 
of the water which they use.* 

* Many writers have observed the deleterious effect of water on our 
domestic animals. The following passage, from the Encyclopedia iNle- 
thodique, is quoted in Sir John Sinclair's Code of Health, vol. iii. : " Vitni- 
vius informs us that the ancients inspected the livers of animals, in order 
to judge of the naturp of the water of a country, and the salubrity of its 
nutritive productions. From this source they derived instruction respect- 
ing the choice of the most advantageous situations for building cities. The 
size and condition of the liver is, in fact, a pretty sure indication of the 
unhealthiness of particular grounds, and of the deleterious quality of the 
water, which, especially when it is stagnant, produces in cows, and par- 
ticularly in sheep, fatal diseases that have often their seat in the liver ; 
as, for instance, the rot, which frequently destroys whole flocks in marshy 
countries. The spleen is also a viscus very apt to be affected by these 
qualities." — Halle, Hygiene. 

In a work on agriculture, by Hogg, the Ettric Shepherd, it is asserted 
that if it be tried to rear young lambs in the winter, upon hay and water, 
they, for the most part, die. But if they are supplied with fresh buccu- 
lent food, they live and thrive. 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 141 



PART SECOND. 



CASES AND OBSERVATIONS. 

In the foregoing remarks I have considered the effects of our 
ahment in general, without any regard to the immediate condi- 
tion of the system as to health or disease. If many of the sub- 
stances so applied are morbific causes, though only ultimately 
and remotely, it cannot but belong to prudent foresight and 
prospective wisdom to avoid them. But the rules for the pre- 
servation of health and avoiding diseases, though always esteem- 
ed a branch, and a most important branch of medicine, are rarely 
demanded of the physician, except in cases of obvious and im- 
minent hazard. As there can be no doubt that on these highly 
interesting subjects many gross errors and many deep-rooted 
prejudices pervade the mass of mankind, hopes may be enter- 
tained that, as the understandings of men become enlightened, 
beneficial changes may be introduced into the general habits 
of society. This is, however, a remote, and not a very cheering 
prospect. But to do all that is within the feeble powers of 
individual exertion to diffuse knowledge, and the blessings which 
follow in its train, is no more than striving to pay that immense 
debt which every one owes to the community, who has received 
from the sufferance of his fellow-men the exemption from ser- 
vile and laborious occupations, and the inestimable advantage 
of mental cultivation. 

It belongs more to the immediate duty of the physician to 
consider how far the principles which have been laid down war- 
rant a change in the treatment of diseases, particularly those 
which are chronical, and upon which medicine has little influence, 
and to determine what are the advantages which experience 
authorizes us to expect from the proposed change. 

Whatever may be the effects upon the human body of the 
substances which, though received at short successive intervals, 
are continually applied to the organs, in the form of food and 



148 VEGETABLE DIET 

drink, it is obvious that they cannot be estimated as we would 
calculate the forces, and percussions, and motions of inert mat- 
ter. The body is a self-moving machine, subject to its own 
peculiar laws, and though to keep up the succession of motions 
and sensations, and the integrity of the powers which are essen- 
tia] to and which constitute a living system, the application of 
the peculiar stimuli of the various organs is necessary, still there 
are inherent properties of the body as a whole, of each peculiar 
organ, the totality of which constitute that whole, and even of 
every individual molecule of the living mass. Upon a machine 
so constituted and so complicated do the stimuli act ; and to 
gain any insight into their effects, we must consider the pro- 
perties of the substance acted upon, as well as the nature of 
the agents. 

The living body itself is not only endowed with peculiar pro- 
perties at any given moment of its existence, but it is also in a 
constant state of change, both in its powers and in its materials. 
The irritability, mobility, and sensibility of the various organs 
are never uniform during any two successive portions of time ; 
and at periods considerably distant the change is more strongly 
marked. The whole mass of the system, the materials of which 
the body is composed, are likewise in a constant state of flux, 
so that after a certain lapse of time there is a total change of 
matter under an identity of form. I suspect that the laws ac- 
cording to which these changes take place have not been suffi- 
ciently adverted to, and that some insight may be gained into 
the origin, phenomena, and periods of diseases by a more strict 
consideration of them. 

The circumstances to which I have adverted create a consid- 
erable difficulty in conducting an inquiry, by the way of experi- 
ment, on the effects of regimen, or peculiar modes of living, 
upon the body, either in disease or health. This difficulty is 
increased by the original varieties of the human constitution, so 
that, upon the whole, it becomes extremely hazardous to trans- 
fer the result of one trial to other cases of a different nature, or 
even of the same, and where the appearances are very similar. 
But still in this, as in every other physical inquiry, the founda- 
tion of all knowledge must be laid in experience ; to that the 
appeal must be made in examining the truth or falsehood of 
principles, and the usefulness or the futility of all new proposals 
for the improvement of the treatment of diseases. If the varie- 
ties of different constitutions are endless, and the forms of dis- 
ease unlimited, still there are analogies and resemblances suffi- 
ciently striking and definite to serve as a guide in the intricate 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 143 

mazes of investigation. The differences of result of the same 
treatment upon different habits, and under various circum- 
stances, may be expected to be rather differences in degree than 
in kind ; and in circumstances more accidental and of inferior 
importance, than in the more marked changes, which may afford 
a just basis for correct reasoning, and an encouragement for 
new efforts toward relief. 

I proceed, therefore, now to relate some cases of disease in 
which I have apphed in some of them with the strictest accu- 
racy ; in all with as much as I could effect, the principles, the 
justness in which I have labored to establish in the preceding 
pages, and in my former writings. Of the propriety of the 
general principle of removing in chronic diseases, if possible, 
all the causes of disease, whether these causes be immediate or 
remote, there can, I conceive, be no dispute. The only ques- 
tion is, what, in fact, are these causes ? I have extended them 
to almost all the ingesta ; but particularly to common water, 
to fermented liquors, and to animal food, fish, eggs, in short, 
to every thing except the matter which is the direct produce 
of the earth, and of such a kind as experience has shown to be 
wholesome and nutritive. 

Of vegetable matter I do not know that any great nicety of 
selection is necessary ; the palate will be a sufficient guide. 
Tliere can be little doubt that vegetables, which are raised in 
the country where the land is not too highly manured, are 
preferable to those which are raised in the gardens of great 
towns, and particularly near the metropolis. But any evil 
which may be supposed to arise from this cause, being for the 
most part unavoidable, it is nugatory to give directions about it. 
Of veofetable matter, 1 consider fruit, and what is unchanged bv 
culinary art, as the most congenial to the human constitution ; 
and in consequent advise as much to be taken in this form as is 
consistent with comfortable feelino-. In the sort of veo-etable 
matter employed there may possibly be material differences on 
the constitution. We know that animals cannot with impunity 
deviate very much from the species of food which is most 
adapted to their natures. But as on this subject I am without 
any information on which I can fully depend, I think it best to 
leave it to be determined by time and future observation. 
Vinous and fermented liquors I forbid. The water used in 
every article in which water is taken into the stomach, I enjoin 
to be artificially purified by distillation.* This is the Peculiar 

* Pure rain water, such as it is when coming from the clouds and re- 
ceived in a clean vessel, in short, rain water that is kept free from the 



144 VEGETABLE DIET 

Regimen which I beheve to be the best adapted to the cure of 
chronical diseases in general, such as I have described in my 
** Reports on Cancer," and which I here repeat for the sake of 
those who may not be in possession of that work, and also to 
save me the trouble of needless repetitions in the ensuing nar- 
ratives. 

But as a motion may, in inert matter, be continued by the 
inertia of matter itself, when the impressing cause has been 
removed, so the symptoms of disease may be found to continue 
when the remote or exciting cause no longer acts. The patient 
may be too far gone to be relieved, the inherent powers of the 
system being destroyed ; or he may be partially relieved, or he 
may be cured. All these varieties are not inconsistent with 
the correctness of the principles and the acknowledged laws of 
the animal economy. In defining the extent to which this prac- 
tice is applicable, with any probability of conferring benefit, the 
degree of benefit which it may probably afford, the time which 
may be expected to be required, and other various circum- 
stances concerning which the mind of a sufferer is naturally 
anxious to be informed, experience alone must be our guide. 
To form any conjectures on such subjects, independent of trial, 
is obviously impossible. 

And (if I may be allowed to say a word concerning myself 
in this place), with regard to the forbidding of animal food, an 
injunction that sounds more unwelcome to English ears than 
any perhaps that could be given, it is impossible that any one 
could have brought to a subject a mind more unprejudiced 
than I did. For forty years of my life I do not know that as 
many days were passed without animal food. Early in life 
(certainly before I practiced physic) I read some where, I be- 
heve in Mrs. Macaulay's letters on education, that giving chil- 
dren meat gravy instead of bread and water, and such sort of 
food, was discovered to be a great improvement in their diet ; 
and as young people are apt to be delighted with discoveries, 
the impression remained, and I firmly believed it. The general 
strain of medical writings since that period was not likely to 

admixture of all other substances whatever, is as good as distilled water 
for any chemical purpose however delicate ; and from this fact we may 
safely infer, I think, that it is also as good for drinking, cooking, and all 
similar purposes. I am very confident that if Dr. Lambe's experiments 
had been made with pure rain water the results would have been equally 
favorable. Rain water all can have at a very little trouble and expense, 
a circumstance which is not true of that which is distilled. I cannot 
believe that the Almighty would not have placed the best remedy within 
the reach of all — S. 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 145 

change this mode of thinking. Respectable and well-intentioned 
writers have ascribed much positive mischief to vegetable food. 
Rickets, scrofula, consumption, palsy, and a host of other 
evils, have been said to be the direct offspring of such a diet. 
Dr. Downman, in his elegant poem of infancy, wholly neglecting 
or being ignorant of all the effects of locality and other morbific 
causes, has condensed these charges in the following lines : 

The infant form'd perhaps with stronger nerves, 
Or of peculiar nature, may escape 
The blasting hand of sickness, or may thrive 
• On vegetable fare ; yet oft we view 

Where poverty more generous food denies 
Tottering Rachitis seize its helpless prey^ 
Or slow consuming Tabes ; or w^ithin 
His mazy labyrinth, the torturous wonri. 
Finding a sure asylum, multiplies 
His noisome produce. Hence the unwieldy head, 
Distended joint, limbs variously incurved ; 
Hence the sunk cheek, the hollow lifeless eye ; 
Hence loss of balmy sleep, and appetite. 
Convulsive motions, agonizing spasms, 
And symptoms, which, in order to describe. 
Had foiled the Coan Sage. 

Dr. Darwin, if not the best physician of his age, certainly a 
man of the finest genius, and of the greatest natural penetration 
and sagacity of them all, was an advocate for animal food. In 
his ardor against fermented liquors he has said, " Flesh meats 
as well as vegetables are the natural diet of mankind ; with 
these a glutton may be crammed up to the throat, and fed fat 
like a stalled ox ; but he will not be diseased unless he adds 
spirituous or fermented liquor to his food." And upon this 
I may say truly preposterous doctrine, he acted, both in his 
own person and in his family. Dr. Beddoes, likewise, whose 
writings on the subjects of health have been widely diffused, 
more from the attraction of the style and the confident tone of 
superiority assumed by the writer, than from any intrinsic worth 
of the matter, pushed the extravagance of his predilection for 
animal diet so far, that he maintained that butchers are not 
liable to become consumptive. He might have said, with an 
equal chance of being right, that common servants in gen- 
tlemen's families, who, for the most part, live much in the 
same way as butchers, do not become consumptive. But 
amidst this general concurrence of sentiment, it was not easy 
to permit any doubts on such a subject to come across the 
mind. Nor, in fact, did I entertain any, till in the year 1804 I 
observed the deleterious effect of impure water ; when I saw 
7 



146 VEGETABLE DIET 

clearly enough that the weakness which many experience from 
abstaining from animal food, and the other mischiefs attributed 
to vegetables, might arise from a different cause than any thing 
really debilitating in vegetable food. It was not, however, till 
nearly three years afterward that I became fully convinced of 
the absolute necessity of a strict vegetable regimen in chronic 
diseases, from an attentive consideration of the facts which I 
have elsewhere detailed. 

In the relation of the following cases, I shall not follow any 
artificial or scientific order, but shall put down the facts nearly 
in the order of time in whi^i they occurred. Thus, the re- 
sults of those cases which have gone on long enough to enable 
me to speak with confidence of the effects of the treatment, 
will be a sort of cover to the defects of others, which, if they 
stood alone, would not justify a similar language. I shall also, 
in general, give a name to each individual case of disease, ex- 
ercising on this point my best judgment. For though I con- 
sider nosological arrangements to be of very little practical 
utility, yet some names are necessary to convey to others a 
general conception of things, and those, therefore, which are 
the most generally received are the best suited to this end. 

I shall venture, in the course of my narrative, to draw such 
conclusions as the facts seem to warrant. Perhaps, here and 
there, I may offer some conjectures upon the more hidden 
causes of the phenomena of diseases. If in these I err, I doubt 
not that I shall be excused in the opinion of candid and inge- 
nious men ; since it is obvious that these causes, that is to say, 
the internal changes in the human body that form the more 
open and prominent phenomena of diseases, have, for the most 
part, eluded the research of pathological inquirers ; this, I say, 
is obvious, from the little satisfaction to be gained on these sub- 
jects from the writings of the most esteemed authors. 



CASE I. 



Weak Eyes, Pimples of the Skin, Dyspepsy, Sick Headache, Constipation, 
Depression of Spirits, and Gout, 

Though the materials of the following case are taken from 
experience, in my own person, I have thought it better to give 
the narrative in the third person. I have begun the thread of 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 147 

the history from a distant period, being convinced that the 
physical life of every individual consists of a series of pheno- 
mena, none of which are absolutely insulated and independent ; 
that each occurrence is a sort of consequence of those which 
have preceded, and is closely linked to those which are to fol- 
low. Thus the disease which ultimately proves fatal often 
shows itself in early hfe, and might perhaps be traced by an 
attentive observer even to the first periods of existence. It 
'•'grows with our growth, and strengthens with our strength." 
We have an infinite number of histories of diseases, that is, of 
solitary attacks or single illnesses. But the histories of a dis- 
eased life, so that we may see at a single view the order and 
succession of events, are rare and very imperfect. To pro/ceed, 
however, with my narrative. 

August 9th, 1813. A physician, in the forty-ninth year of 
his age, passed the first eighteen years of his life without dis- 
ease. But there were some peculiarities of constitution, which 
were observable at this time. He could never bear with ease 
a strong light, and the whole head was more than commonly 
tender. At eight years old he received, by a fall from a horse, 
a severe wound in the forehead. The cicatrix of this wound 
was always so tender, that he could never afterward bear the 
pressure of the edge of a hat upon it ; on which account, he 
always wore the hat close upon the eyes. He was of a lax 
fibre, with a feeble pulse, thin, pale, delicate, and with very 
light hair. 

At about eighteen, he began to have many pimples over the 
face, neck, shoulders, and breast ; and these continued unre- 
mittingly upward of twenty years, being very troublesome, 
producing considerable deformity, and most of them, after sup- 
puration, leaving pits in the skin. About the same time, too, 
he began to have some trifling uneasy feelings of the stomach, 
and shght dyspeptic symptoms. 

At the age of twenty-four or five, he was often seized with 
sudden lameness, not very violent, and lasting only a short 
time. He was told by a very old sufferer from gout, that these 
lamenesses portended severe attacks of that disease. How- 
ever, they left him before the age of twenty-eight, and they 
have only been brought to his recollection by subsequent 
events. 

He arrived, however, at the age of thirty -two or three, with- 
out any serious or dangerous illness. He was dyspeptic, had 
often sick headaches, the eyes impatient of light, and had some- 
times slight lumbago or rheumatism. But he had no confine- 



148 VEGETABLE DIET 

ment nor violent attacks. On exposure to cold, or other occa- 
sions of disease, the stomach was the principal suflferer. With 
coughs or colds he was almost unacquainted. 

About the period above mentioned, he perceived a degree of 
confusion about the head ; reading caused a degree of dizziness, 
so that intellectual exertion or study, which had been a source 
of great pleasure, became less agreeable. About the same 
time, too, but the exact period he cannot fix upon, he found 
the head so heated at night that even a nightcap was uneasy, 
and he always threw it off before morning ; a symptom that 
became permanent. 

In some short time afterward, he found the dyspeptic symp- 
toms greatly aggravated, the digestion imperfect, and, for the 
first time, the secretion by the bowels became irregular. Arti- 
ficial methods of evacuation, both by medicine and by injections, 
gave considerable relief, and brought away many scybala, and 
much offensive excrement. But the benefit was only tempo- 
rary ; after the operation of medicine, the necessity for them 
occurred ; natural evacuations, though not suspended, seemed 
ineffectual and unsatisfactory ; nor was he ever easy and com- 
fortable when the use of medicines was intermitted for any 
length of time. The mind, too, fell into that disagreeable 
state, in which the attention is greatly fixed upon the bodily 
feelings ; in health, these are hardly noticed, but the atten- 
tion is absorbed by things that are external and foreign to the 
body. 

At this period of his life, he thought that inflammation of 
the bowels was caused by obstruction, and that the prevention 
or removal of this obstruction would obviate such disease. He 
was, therefore, extremely attentive to preserve a regularity of 
the intestinal evacuations by the regular use of gentle aperient 
medicines. But notwithstanding all his precautions, he was 
seized, in January, 1799, with a very severe inflammation of the 
bowels. The pain was chiefly seated in the right epigastric 
region, and though the violence of the disease was subdued in 
eight or ten days, the pain at that part continued to be felt 
for a twelvemonth ; and after that attack, he never walked out 
in the cool of the evening, without feeling a sUght tenderness 
and uneasiness over the whole abdomen, ' 

For a year or two, however, after this attack, he enjoyed, 
upon the whole, a better state of health than before it. But 
still the dyspeptic symptoms and irregularity of the bowels 
continued to trouble him. The stomach never felt easy ; he 
was oppressed with flatulence, and it continued necessary to 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 149 

have recourse to art to procure regular evacuations. These 
symptoms kept slowly increasing. To these were joined, to- 
ward the close of 1802, fits of low spirits and hypochondriacal 
feelings, which it is impossible to describe, and the horrors of 
which can be known to those only who have felt them. They 
were not very lasting, and were succeeded by intervals of 
cheerfulness and good spirits. 

In the beginning of 1803, the uneasiness of the stomach 
was more aggravated. It was not acute, but constant and 
wearinof. It was not a fortnia^ht before he conceived the idea 
which led to its relief, that he said in despair to one who was 
the sharer of all his thoughts, *' What can it be that occasions 
this constant uneasiness of the stomach?" He was more than 
commonly temperate, lived in a small healthy country town, 
and from the nature of his profession used much exercise, though 
it seldom amounted to great fatigue. Still he found himself 
unable to ward off severe illness, and the dread of still more dan- 
gerous attacks. 

The only thing which had afforded any permanent relief to 
the stomach was substitutino- water to beer as a common bever- 
age. This has been serviceable, but without effecting a cure. 

In the month of May, 1803, he saw reason to believe that 
deleterious matter was introduced into the body with the water 
that is habitually employed ; and he determined therefore to 
try the effect of using none but Avhat was made perfectly pure 
by distillation. The motives for this opinion he has detailed at 
length in a work entitled An Inquiry into the Origin of Consti- 
tutional Diseases. He believes that the views he took in that 
work are essentially correct, but that the hypothesis he adopted 
was too limited. He reserves, however, what he may have to 
say on this head to a more proper place and opportunity. 

When he found that the uneasy state of the stomach was 
abated by this simple expedient, the delight received from the 
discovery may be more readily conceived than described. And 
indeed the real benefit produced was very considerable. He 
found a considerable improvement of muscular strength. In 
about nine months his sick headaches left him ; and from that 
time to the present hour he has not experienced this great 
inconvenience once,'^ The constant uneasiness of the stomach 
soon became soothed, and in about fifteen months it was hardly 
sensible. All the dyspeptic symptoms were reheved, the sto- 

* He has been informed by others of sick headaches having been re- 
lieved by distilled water, particularly by a gentleman more than sixty- 
years of age. 



150 VEGETABLE DIET 

mach was no longer loaded and oppressed with flatulence, and 
the bowels performed then* regular functions without the aid 
of medicine. 

Regularly in the month of October he had been subject, for 
some years, to severe attacks of pain in the jaws ; so much 
that he used to take sixty, eighty, or even one hundred drops 
of tincture of opium to gain relief. This kind of attack recur- 
red the first year after the use of distilled water with its accus- 
tomed \'iolence. But since that time it has ceased entirely. 

At the end of eight months, that is to say in the beginning 
of 1804, he had a relapse of the inflammation of the bowels, 
ushered in with exactly the same symptoms as in the year 
1799, and with equal severity of pain. But in this instance it 
subsided in the course of two or three days without bleeding, 
and after a week or nine days it was entirely gone, without 
leaving any trace of uneasiness after it. 

Before he adopted the use of pure water, the linen over the 
right shoulder was constantly stained with blood, from the 
breaking of a succession of pimples upon the subjacent parts. 
This ceased by its use, as did the tenderness of the abdomen 
upon exposure to the damps of the evening. 

All these changes showed that the whole habit of body was 
affected by this simple change. It appeared to pervade and 
affect every organ. But its efl'ects were most evident upon 
the mouth, tongue, and palate. The tongue was less foul, 
the feelings of all the parts more comfortable, and the teeth 
became very much divested of the dark and foul matter with 
which they were soiled. 

Another appearance was very striking. He had observed 
for years that the skin of the neck contracted a black stain, 
wliich he in vain attempted to remove by washing. It was 
either indelible, or was quickly renewed after it liad been re- 
moved. But this foulness, like that upon the teeth, was taken 
away almost entirely by the same process. It is evident, there- 
fore, that this blackness, which may be observed on many per- 
sons, and which is that which soils the linen in contact with 
the neck, proceeds from the body itself. It must be a taint of 
the mucus of the skin ; and as the black summits of coagulated 
mucus which may be pressed out of the skin (which are vul- 
garly called grubs) are discolored only where they have been 
exposed to the atmosphere, it seems that the matter is colorless 
wh'Cn excreted ; but it is blackened by the action of the atmo- 
sphere. 

The whole skin also became less tender. Thus he could 



IX CIIROXIO DISEASES. 151 

bear slmving, even with cold water, witliout pain ; the great 
tenderness of the forehead diminished, so that he became able 
to bear the moderate pressure of a hat upon the old cicatrix 
on the forehead without inconvenience. The number of pim- 
ples much diminished, and those which appeared did not so 
readily run into suppuration. 

Observing these things, he cannot be surprised even at this 
time, that, not suspecting any other evident cause of mischief, 
and seeing that the one which he had detected w^ of itself 
adequate to account for the premature and violent dissolution 
of the body, he should have thought that no other precaution 
than attention to the purity of the fluids introduced into the 
body, with an observance of the common rules of temperance 
and moderation, was requisite to the preservation of the health. 
Ought it to be a reproach to him, that, at this period, with 
regard to the nature of the food, he was of the same opinion 
as the bulk of the community and the great body of the profes- 
sion, and that he had not adopted sentiments, which are by 
the majority, at this moment, deemed indefensible ? 

But his own personal experience, united to the observations 
he made upon others, proved to him the insufficiency of this 
precaution alone. During the whole of 1804 he enjoyed an 
improved state of health. Nor did he notice any thing in par- 
ticular, except it was occasionally an uneasiness over the head, 
particularly after dinner. In the course of 1805, he first felt 
pains over the head frequently occurring. They were quite 
different from, sick headaches ; they were of the kind rather 
which would be called tensive, affecting the whole cranium, and 
much depressing the spirits. The hypochondriacal feelings and 
lowness of spirits increased. After dinner, the propensity to 
sleep was frequently irresistible, even in company. Besides 
this, he found the eyesight permanently injured. Every object 
at which he attempted to look with steadiness had a vibratory 
motion. This was more particularly evident when examining 
pictures at a little distance. The hands and feet were always 
parched and hot, the skin dry, and there was a tendency to 
emaciation. At times he found it almost impossible to fix the 
mind to any thing which demanded study and reflection. 

Toward the close of this year, and the very beginning of the 
next, the pains of the head increased much in severity, so that 
he was obliged during the attack to lie upon the bed, and he 
began to loath his food. He resolved, therefore, finally, to ex- 
ecute what he had been contemplating some time — to abandon 
animal food altogether, and every thing analogous to it, and to 



152 VEGETABLE DIET 

confine himself wholly to vegetable food. This determination 
he put in execution the second week of February, 1806, and he 
has adhered to it with perfect regularity to the present time. 
His only subject of repentance with regard to it has been, that 
it had not been adopted much earlier in life. 

He never found the smallest real ill consequence from this 
change. He neither sunk in strength, flesh, nor spirits. He 
was at all times of a very thin and slender habit, and so he has 
continued to be ; but upon the whole he has rather gained than 
lost flesh. He has experienced neither indigestion nor flatu- 
lence, even from the sort of vegetables which are commonly 
experienced to be the most oppressive and windy, as beans, 
peas, peas-soup, etc. Nor has the stomach suffered from any 
vegetable matter though unchanged by culinary art, or uncor- 
rected by condiments. These results, so opposite to common 
experience, and even to his own in the former part of his life, 
can be accounted for only by considering the changes intro- 
duced into the state of the digesting organs by the previous 
use of the purified water. The only unpleasant consequence 
of the change was a sense of emptiness of the stomach, which 
continued many months. In about a year, however, he became 
fully reconciled to the new habit ; and felt as well satisfied with 
his vegetable meal, as he had been formerly with his dinner of 
flesh. 

He can truly say that since he has acted upon this resolution, 
no year has passed in which he has not enjoyed better health 
than in that which preceded it. But he has found that the 
changes introduced into the body by a vegetable regimen take 
place with extreme slowness ; that it is in vain to expect any 
considerable amendment in successive weeks, or in successive 
months ; we are to look rather to the intervals of half years, or 
years. 

But a perceptible benefit was very soon obtained. The seve- 
rity of the pain became quickly mitigated, so that it never once, 
from the time at which he made this change, forced him to take 
to his bed. But it recurred again and again for three or four 
years, at irregular but no very distant periods ; perhaps a week 
rarely passed without one or two paroxj^sms. And for three 
years at least he constantly awoke with pain in the back of the 
neck, near the insertion of the muscles of the neck into the 
occipital bone, and from thence spreading over the whole head. 

So much was the sensorium affected, that repeatedly, while 
walking through the streets during the first year, he was insen- 
sible of the weight of his body, and could not feel the pressure 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 153 

of his feet upon the pavement. He presumes that this sensa- 
tion, or rather this want of sensation, must approach nearly to 
the state of those who suffer apoplectic attacks. This very un- 
pleasant state continued recurring for near twelve months. Since 
that time it has never been experienced. 

A¥hen this symptom disappeared, the paroxysms of uneasi- 
ness over the head w^ere accompanied with a more evident sen- 
sation of fullness and oppression ; and these continued to recur 
as the former paroxysms had done. It was evident, therefore, 
that the morbid changes which were attended with a tempo- 
rary abolition of sensibility, in an inferior degree of intensity, 
produced the sense of local fullness and oppression. This con- 
tinued to be considerably oppressive, even during the fifth year 
of this course (1810). 

In the autumn of the preceding year (1809), he was exposed 
daring a journey to the joltings of a stage coach. The common 
asperities of the road did not affect the head, but a violent jolt 
gave the sense of a deep internal pain in the interior of the 
brain. 

And — to bring into one point of view this part of the case — 
even now, during the eighth year of this mode of living, these 
pains recur very nearly in the same manner as they have for 
the last three or four years. Sometimes two or three times in 
the week, occasionally not above once in a fortnight, he aw^akes 
(having been restless the preceding night) with a pain at the 
back of the neck, and some uneasiness over the head ; it con- 
tinues sometimes ten minutes, very rarely half an hour, and then 
subsides, with perhaps a trifling depression of strength. It will 
happen, though very rarely, that it continues to be felt, but in 
a very trifling degree, during the whole of the day. But the 
sense of fullness and oppression is completely gone, and the 
whole is so trifling as not to deserve the name of disease, nor 
even of inconvenience, since it does not in any degree interfere 
with the common duties and occupations of life. 

All these circumstances sufficiently demonstrate that there 
was formed in this case deep-seated disease of the substance of 
the brain, and it appears very evident that this disease was pro- 
ceeding with a rapid pace toward an apoplectic or paralytic 
attack. What sets this beyond dispute is, that in the worst of 
these pains of the head, the tongue has been so affected that 
he could not speak with perfect freedom. The eftect of the 
vegetable regimen, even during seven years and a half, has not 
been enough Avholly to subdue the disease. But it has regularly 
and progressively diminished its intensity. The paroxysms have 
1* 



151 VEGETABLE DIET 

returned nearly in the same manner during the last year as dur- 
ing the first ; but in each successive year the strength or inten- 
sity of them has been imiformly diminished. 

And granting the representation of facts to be correct, and 
the nature of this case to be justly determined, I must be per- 
mitted to ask, what other method than that which has been 
adopted would hav^e produced the same benefit ? If such 
methods exist, I confess my own ignorance of them. Bleeding, 
either general or topical, is that which is most resorted to, and 
is that which gives the greatest relief to urgent symptoms. But 
it can do no more than this ; the morbid diathesis of the sys- 
tem, that which exists equally during the paroxysms of disease 
and during the intervals, remains unchanged. All the symp- 
toms of oppression of the brain will persist, and graduall\'- in- 
crease, though the patient be cupped repeatedly and regularly, 
as I have myself frequently witnessed. 

If it be thought that if a cure were possible by this method 
of treatment, it ought surely to be effected in the long period 
of seven years and a half ; let it, on the other hand, be con- 
sidered how long there had been signs of the formation of this 
disease before it had arrived at that degree of severity which 
enforces attention, and excites apprehension. I have shown, 
from the tenderness of the forehead, that there existed a mor- 
bid predisposition in these parts in the eighth or ninth year of 
life. It is clear enough, likewise, from the dizziness and heat 
about the head, which I have mentioned, that some morbid 
change had taken place nine or ten years before these pains 
came on. It cannot be thouo-ht strano-e or unnatural if it should 
be proved, that wholly to eradicate these symptoms requires 
some such time as from the appearance of the first unequivocal 
signs of disease having taken place. 

But though these pains still recur in a trifling degree, the 
relief given to the brain in general has been decided and most 
essential. It has appeared in an increased sensibihty of all the 
organs, particularly of the senses — the touch, the taste, and the 
sight — in greater muscular activity, in greater freedom and 
strength of respiration, greater freedom of all the secretions, 
and in increased intellectual power. It has been extended 
to the night as much as to the day. The sleep is more tran- 
quil, less disturbed by dreams, and more refreshing. Less 
sleep upon the whole appears to be required. But the loss of 
quantity is more than compensated by its being sound and 
uninterrupted. 

In about three years that vibratory motion of visible objects 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 155 

was either gone or hardly perceptible. The impression of light 
is no longer painful ; the eye rather courts than avoids it. The 
ear has received a corresponding benefit. Sounds had become 
oppressive to him ; the noises of children had in particular be- 
come irksome. But this morbid feeling has wholly vanished. 
He is much more patient of the changes of the atmosphere, 
but particularly the cold. He had been clothed both in sum- 
mer and winter in flannels. But he has been enabled to quit 
them without injury. Flannel drawers, and flannel linings to 
the coat sleeves, during the winter months, is all that he has 
retained. Wet clothes or wet feet are no longer objects of terror. 
They cause no injury worth regarding. 

About the same time the burning heat of the palms of the 
hands and the soles of the feet went away. The skin, which 
had been parched and dry, became moist and perspirable. The 
tongue, which had been habitually foul, became clean. The 
saliva lost all clamminess and viscidity ; and the secretion by 
the kidneys was much increased, though the quantity of watery 
fluids taken into the stomach was, at the same time, greatly 
diminished. 

The hypochondriacal symptoms continued to be occasionally 
very oppressive during the second year, particularly during the 
earlier part of it ; but they afterward very suddenly declined, 
and at present he enjoys more uniform and regular spirits than 
he had done for man}^ years upon mixed diet. 

From the whole of these facts it follows, that all the organs, 
and, indeed, every fibre of the body is simultaneously afiected 
by the matters habitually conveyed into the stomach ; and that 
it is the incongruity of these matters to the system which grad- 
ually forms that morbid diathesis, which exists alike both in ap- 
parent health and in disease. I might illustrate this fact still more 
minutely by observations on the teeth, on the hair, and on the 
skin. I might show that, by a steady attention to regimen, the 
skin of the palms of the hand, or between the toes, becomes 
of a firmer and stronger texture ; that even a corn upon the 
toe, which had for twenty years and upward been growing 
more fixed, firm, and deep, had first its habitudes altered, and 
finally was softened and disappeared ; but perhaps enough has 
been said already to give a pretty clear idea both of the kind 
of change introduced into the habit by diet, and of the extent 
to which it may be carried. 

I proceed, therefore, to relate some new phenomena which 
took place during the course of this regimen, which are both 
curious in themselves, and lead to important conclusions. 



156 VEGETABLE DIET 

I have said that, at the ags of twenty -three or twenty-four, 
the subject of this case was hable to sudden lamenesses, which 
Avere thought by a gentleman much experienced in gout, from 
having been himself a great sufferer, to portend that disease. 
These lamenesses disappeared and were no more thought of, cer- 
tainly before the twenty-sixth or twenty-seventh year. Neither 
did any thing like a gouty affection of the limbs appear, when 
the stomach and bowels were so much relieved by the use of 
the pure water. But he had not confined himself to vegetables 
for two months before he began to have slight pains in the 
feet. In the course of the year these pains much increased ; 
they became strong and beating, but of short duration, and un- 
attended by any swelling or discoloration. Toward the close of 
the second year (180*7), the determination to the feet was still 
stronger ; there were about that time frequent violent pains 
through the ankles and metatarsal bones ; they were internal 
but sudden, like the infliction of a blow ; he used to say, it was 
as if his feet had been struck with a sledge-hammer ; there 
were also sudden twinges through the toes, so sharp as to 
oblige him suddenly to raise his foot from the ground. In the 
course of the third year he became lame in one of his feet for 
two or three months. He was accustomed to awake in the 
morning without any lameness, but before he could dress him- 
self the lameness would come on, and remain for an hour or 
two, after which it went off, and he could walk perfectly well 
for the rest of the day. There was redness and slight tume- 
faction upon the upper part of the foot, over the seat of the 
disease. During the whole of the succeeding winter, though 
the beating pains of the feet were much diminished in violence, 
the gouty affection was more firmly settled in the feet. One 
of the little toes was so constantly painful, that for many 
months of this winter and the ensuing spring, the pressure even 
of the bedclothes was painful. For a year and a half longer 
he had almost constantly some gouty pains of the toes, and fre- 
quent fits of lameness. The last time that this occurred was 
in August, 1810, when, for one evening, he was so lame as not 
to be able to walk freely without support. 

This happened when he had continued the vegetable regi- 
men four years and a half. Here again, then, let us pause for 
a moment and consider the obvious deductions from these 
facts. 

I shall confine myself to four observations : 

Xst. It is clear that these pains of the extremities were 
essentially the same affection as had appeared in the early part 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 157 

of life. The cause of their disappearing about the twenty- 
seventh or twenty-eighth year must have been the shifting or 
concentration of diseased action upon the internal and more 
important organs, the stomach and the brain. When these 
became relieved by the vegetable regimen, the extremities be- 
came again affected. Disease, therefore, though seated in dif- 
ferent organs, may be the same in kind ; and we may conclude 
that it is the property of this regimen, and in particular of the 
vegetable diet, to transfer diseased action from the viscera to 
the exterior parts of the body, from the central parts of the 
system to the periphery. Vegetable diet has- often been charged 
Avith causing cutaneous diseases ; in common language, they 
are, in these cases, said to proceed from poorness of blood. 
In a degree the charge is probably just ; and the observation 
I have just made may give us some insight into the cause of 
it. But this charge, instead of being a just cause of reproach, 
is a proof of the superior salubrity of vegetable diet. Cutane- 
ous eruptions appear, because disease is translated from the in- 
ternal organs to the skin. 

2d. There was an interval of fifteen or sixteen years from the 
disappearance of these pains, in consequence of the gradual 
changes introduced into the system by the use of animal food, 
and their being brought back again by the vegetable regimen. 
Now, during all this number of years, there was neither inflam- 
mation, pain, tenderness, nor any other external sign of there 
being any disease of theJSe extremities. But from the changes 
which took place, as soon as the vegetable regimen was adopt- 
ed, it is clear that they were really diseased at this period, 
and had been so during the whole interval of fifteen or sixteen 
years. Disease should be considered, therefore, not so much 
as an obvious change in the texture of parts, which is either 
visible or tangible, as a change in the inherent powers, Avhicli 
belong to the part as a living substance. The more palpable 
changes, which constitute the symptoms of disease, are the con- 
sequence of the previous and imperceptible changes which 
have taken place in the vital powers of the part. The inherent 
vitality of the part, that which distinguishes every portion of 
the living body from dead matter, may be, and often is, nearly 
extinguished, when there is no such change of structure as can 
be readily detected by the senses. 

3d. As, in the affection of the head, paroxysms, the very 
same in kind, but differing in intensity, continued to recur, even 
for years after animal food had been discontinued, it must fol- 
low that whatever was the proximate cause of the paroxysms. 



158 VEGETABLE DIET 

under the mixed regimen, the same continued to be the proxi- 
mate cause under the vegetable regimen. If, therefore, there 
v/as increased vascular action in the brain, or in its appendages, 
wlicn these paroxysms first took place, and forming the foun- 
dation of them, the same increased action, that is to say, the 
same in kind, but not in degree, has continued for a course of 
many years under a diet of vegetables alone. We see, then, 
how ill-founded is the notion that inanition and loss of power 
is induced by a vegetable diet. In fact, all the observations 
that have been made, have shown the very reverse to be the 
truth. Symptoms of plenitude and oppression have continued 
ill considerable force for at least five years. And the conse- 
quence of this peculiar regimen has been an increase of 
strength and power, and not a diminution. In the subject of 
this case, the pulse, which may be deemed, perhaps, the best 
index to the condition of all the other functions, is at present 
much more full and strong than under the use of animal food. 
It is also perfectly calm and regular. 

4th. We may, from the circumstances of this case, form 
something like an estimate of the time during which the ob- 
vious effects of animal diet will remain in the system. In the 
instance before us, there was a gouty affection of strength or 
intensity, sufficient to produce lameness, after the animal food 
and every other matter which co-operates to produce such a 
disease had been discontinued four years and a half. I said 
therefore to myself, if this degree of 'disease can remain four 
years and a half, supposing the intensity of the diseased condi- 
tion to continue uniformly to decline at the same rate, we ought 
still to expect some slight vestiges of the original affection at 
double the distance of time, or at the end of nine years. It is 
obviously improper to transfer this precise result to any other 
case whatever ; every one must be judged by its own proper 
and peculiar circumstances. But a similar mode of reasoning, 
and a probable anticipation of future events, may, I conceiv^e, 
be applied to any case whatever, according to the phenomena 
which it presents. 

To finish, therefore, this long account : After four years and 
a half, the gouty affection still continued, but its strength be- 
came so much diminished, that the lameness never again ap- 
peared. Sometimes there has been a slight stiffness of the 
heel ; sometimes pains of the toes, with redness and soreness 
of them all. Through the whole of the seventh year (1812), 
there was a stiffness and some pain of the left knee. But finally, 
in the eighth year, the whole of these external pains have dis- 



[N CHRONIC DISEASES. 159 

appeared, with tlio exception of that trifling affection of the 
liead, which has been mentioned. 

Nor has this gouty disorder been the only external disease 
which may be said to have been induced by the vegetable re- 
gimen. Formerly he hardly knew (as has been said) what it 
was to have a cough or a cold ; the stomach or bowels were 
on all occasions of exposure the principal sufferers. But at 
the end of the second year of the vegetable regimen, he had 
angina, infinitely more severe than he had ever suffered before. 
The attempt to swallow was perfect agony. He has since had 
many severe coughs and colds, attended with much defluxion. 
Tliere has also been much itching on the surface of the body, 
particularly on the head, the hams, and the legs. But to com- 
pensate for these trifling evils, now the stomach and bowels 
never suffer. 

And as to the general state of health, it has uniformly 
and regularly improved, and more obviously since the fifth 
year than before that time. During the first five years there 
were many threatenings of the return of his former dis- 
orders, but which came to nothing. In particular, in the 
spring of the fourth year (1810), he looked thin and ill, had 
great agitation and restless nights ; the bowels became tense ; 
and once he threw up his food. But all this passed off without 
any real illness ; and he can say in general that, with the 
exception of the attack of angina, which kept him within doors 
for three or four days, he has not now for the space of seven 
years suffered the confinement of a single hour. 

With regard to fermented liquors, his experience is shortly 
as follows. He was at all times habitually sober — a habit to 
which, in this instance, he attaches no personal merit — since 
lie never liked wine, and it occasioned heat and uneasiness. 
He, therefore, till near thirty years old, confined himself to a 
single glass of wine daily, as his constant habit when not in 
company. But after that time, he felt compelled in a manner 
to use more wine ; he felt chilly and uneasy, and found that 
by the use of about three glasses of wine daily, he was warmer, 
was more cheerful and active, and had in every respect less un- 
easy feehng. But by the use of the pure water, he found these 
uneasy sensations. greatly diminished, and the necessity for wine 
appeared removed. He was, therefore, enabled gradually to 
leave it off entirely ; and at present he finds fermented liquor 
of any kind obviously injurious. 

These observations instructed him how substances may in- 
troduce into the system a quantity of agreeable sensation, or 



160 VEGETABLE DIET 

destroy une.isj feelings, whicli are at the same time ultimErtely 
injurious, and concur with other causes to destroy the vital 
powers. 

He had, when living on common diet, been habitually 
thirsty, and like most persons inclined to studious and seden- 
tary habits, was much attached to tea-drinking. But for the 
last two or three years, he has almost wholly relinquished the 
use of liquids ; and by the substitution of fruit and recent vege- 
tables, he has found that the sensation of thirst has been, in a 
manner, abolished. Even tea has lost its charms, and he very 
rarely uses it. He is therefore certain, from his own experi- 
ence, that the habit of employing liquids is wholly an artificial 
habit, and not necessary to any of the functions of the animal 
economy. 

He has chosen to denominate this affection of the head atonic 
gout, induced by the obvious connection between it and the 
gouty pains. The general habit was of that kind, that it would 
have been said that there was not sufficient strength of consti- 
tution to throw out the gout upon the limbs. But if it should 
seem more proper to any one to suppose this disease a disposi- 
tion to apoplexy, palsy, or any other of the great diseases ori- 
ginating in the brain, I should not think it worth contending 
about. Such disorders affecting gouty subjects cannot be dis- 
tinguished from the same disorders affecting persons not sub- 
ject to gout. 

I may, in relation to this long history, have been tedious, 
and seem needlessly minute to most of my readers. But in 
truth, I have omitted many circumstances for the sake of brev- 
ity. There is no other case, the circumstances of which can 
be so strongly impressed upon my mind, and of which I can 
so fully warrant the correctness of statement. The conclusions, 
too, which I have drawn from the facts, are general conclu- 
sions, illustrative of the universal laws of diseased action. I 
shall, therefore, be absolved from the necessity of employing 
the same minuteness in what I have further to relate. If those 
for whose service these labors are principally designed — I mean 
persons suffering under habitual and chronical illness — are en- 
abled to s'O alono- with me in my aro-ument, to form a p-eneral 
correct notion of what they are to expect from regimen, and, 
above all, to arm their minds with firmness, patience, and per- 
severance, I shall not readily be induced to think that I have 
written one superfluous line. 

Nov. 15th, 1814, — I feel it needful to add to this account 
no more than that the pains of the head are at present still 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 161 

more trifling, and as nearly gone as possible. To say that 
they are wholly removed would not be the truth. 



CASE II. 

Disposition to Pulmonary Consumption. 

August 25, 1813. — L. W. L., aged sixteen, had in the first 
years of his life every mark of a deep scrofulous habit. He was 
of a fair and pale complexion, and at six years of age the skin 
was rough, the eyehds habitually red, the muscles weak and 
soft, the joints tumid. He had suffered one severe attack of 
abdominal inflammation ; the abdomen was always hai'd and 
tumid, though great attention was paid to regularity in his diet, 
and he constantly required medicine to keep the bowels regu- 
lar. To these appearances was added a thinness which might 
be justly called emaciation, and a generally unhealthy, pallid, 
and sickly appearance. These appeared to me sufficient indi- 
cations of a diseased state of the mesenteric glands, which is a 
precursor or concomitant of pulmonary consumption. 

This general state of health was greatly amended by the use 
of the pure water, which was adopted in May, 1803 ; the habit 
was strengthened, the bowels became soft and regular, and the 
countenance became more healthful. From havingf been an in- 
habitant of the country, he had become, in the autumn of 1803, 
an inhabitant of London ; and it was observable in him, that a 
child, who in the country was subject to frequent indispositions, 
was, by this attention only, in the heart of the metropolis, for 
about sixteen months kept free from every sort of illness. 

About Christmas, 1804, he had a mild ulcerated sore throat, 
which appeared to have been received by contagion. After 
this, though he suffered very little at the time, the health began 
rather to fail. It left a constant hacking dry cough, which re- 
mained fixed for three or four months. At this time, instinc- 
tively, he left off" animal food, and the cough disappeared in the 
spring, 1805. He then, spontaneously also, returned to the 
use of animal food, which I did not oppose, my opinion at that 
time being that the appetite should be taken as the guide for 
the species of food best suited to the present state of the body. 
I did not at that time consider that the fondness for animal food 
is wholly factitious, and could not in fact exist independent of 



]62 VEGETABLE DIET 

previous indulgence. In the course of this year he became 
very pallid, so that by the end of it his face was of the color 
of marble. He had an obstinate inflammation, of a scrofulous 
nature, of the left eye and e3'elid in tlie autumn, which left the 
vessels distended with blood from relaxation. The appetite 
also became very delicate and capricious, so that his dinner was 
(as was remarked by a physician who saw him frequentl}^) more 
play than eating. Even many sorts of vegetables he disliked. 
In this state, without any positive disease upon him, but with 
the air and aspect of a child that would never reach manhood, 
I resolved to confine him to a strict vegetable regimen, early in 
the y^ar 1806. 

The consequence of this has been, that from that hour to the 
present (now seven years and a half), he has been free from all 
serious illness ; and the health has ever}^ year become more 
firm and established. A very few slight indispositions he has 
had, which it is not worth while to relate at length, except one 
circumstance, which I propose to make the subject of a distinct 
account. But in this case, though the subject was so young, 
the constitutional changes have been introduced very slowly ; 
indeed, as slowly as in persons of advanced years. 

In the autumn of 1806 the opthalmia retm-ned, but much 
less severely, and since that time it has not appeared. But the 
vessels of the eyelids remained distended for three or four years, 
which gave the appearance of weakness in the part. For full 
as long a time he had a short hacking cough every successive 
winter. During the whole of the second year (1S07), he con- 
tinued to look exceedingly pallid, and far from healthy ; and 
even at the end of four years he had, with a thin, pallid, and 
extenuated body, an extremely full, throbbing, and what would 
be called an inflammatory pulse. But since that time it has 
become much softened. 

Formerly, when eating animal food, the tongue was at all 
times covered with a white slimy crust. It is now, and has 
been for several years, perfectly clean. The smallness and 
delicacy of the appetite remained for full two years, after which 
it improved and became much less fastidious. He is now rather 
pallid, but has much more color than when he used animal 
food. 

It was an observation of his own, when he was under ten 
years of age, that " When I ate meat, I was at night first too 
cold, and then a great deal too hot, so that I could not sleep ; 
but now I sleep comfortably all night long." I doubt whether 
on any point more unexceptionable evidence was ever oflfered. 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 163 

He is at present in very good health, the breath sound and 
strong, the appetite hearty, with color enough, and enjoying 
2"reat activity of mind and body, with a greater flow of animal 
spirits than falls to the lot of most people. But he carries about 
him strong marks of a consumptive constitution; and I do not 
doubt that if the attention, which has been paid to him now for 
a series of years, were to be remitted for three or four years, 
he would become really consumptive. 

Nov. 17, 1814. — As this young man approaches manhood he 
appears to acquire more firm health, and the signs of his former 
delicate state are more completely effaced. 



CASE III. 

Distortion of the Chest, Pimples of the Face, General Debility, and 

Weak Eyes. 

August 28, 1813. — ti. L., aged nineteen, adopted the use of 
pure water in 1803, being then between nine and ten years of 
age. She had passed through the first years of her life without 
any dangerous illness, but was delicate and subject to conges- 
tions of the bowels ; she was rather pallid, narrow in the chest, 
and had not the appearance of a child in good health. About 
the ninth year she appeared evidently to be growing awry. The 
health obviously improved by the use of the pure water, but 
not in such a degree as to furnish any precise observation, ex- 
cept that the tendency to crookedness was checked. At the 
time that this habit was persevered in, but while she used a 
mixed diet, the skin of the face became much deformed with 
the black spots that are called grubs, and the forehead in par- 
ticular became almost covered and roughened with an aggre- 
gation of pimples. In 1805, she was still more pallid, heavy 
about the eyes, with a dark circle round them ; and the spirits 
were so tender that every little exertion was a toil, and on the 
most trifling occasion the eyes would overflow with tears. 

About midsummer, 1809, I joined to the pure water a vege- 
table regimen. She went to school at Warwick, where her 
regimen was continued. About October, Dr. Winthrop, then 
a physician at Warwick, wrote to me, that her mistress was 
under considerable anxiety on account of this child ; that she 
seemed in still worse health and spirits than before, which was 



164 VEGETABLE DIET 

attributed to the cnange of diet, which he feared would nevei 
agree Avith so delicate a subject. 

I could not, however, attend to this well-intentioned advice, 
which, I believe, was such as would have been given by almost 
every other medical man. But I conceive that delicate subjects 
are those which afford the least resistance to morbific impres- 
sions, and from which, therefore, such impressions should be 
removed with the greatest care. Besides, I knew perfectly 
well what had been the state of the health under the common 
regimen ; and what could be hoped from a recurrence to it, but 
a continuation of the same condition ? 

And all the prognostications of mischief from this change 
have been completely falsified by the event ; for the truth is, 
that from that day to the present she has not had an hour ill 
health, nor scarcely the trifling indisposition of a single dnj. 
E^^ery year the marks of weakness and delicacy wore off, and 
were at length completely effaced ; and she has grown up much 
more robust. The tenderness and lowness of spirits, the heavi- 
ness of the eye and languor of the countenance have been re- 
moved and have been succeeded by uniform cheerfulness, activity, 
and intelligence. The chest has expanded and assumed a per- 
fect form ; and a cough, Avhich, in the first years of this course, 
gave strong apprehensions of a pulmonary taint has wholly 
disappeared. In a word, she is now, and has been, for several 
years, in perfect health. 

The roughness of the forehead, occasioned by the swarm of 
pimples, did not begin to yield till after more than two years, 
when they gradually disappeared. If, at present, there is an 
occasional pimple on the face or chin, she observes that it is 
much more painful than formerly, which is a sufficiently clear 
index that the general sensibility of the system is much greater 
or more acute than formerly. 

I have chosen to assume a symptom that is in itself very 
trifling (though by no means so in the estimation of young 
women), as the denomination of the condition of the subject of 
this relation. The narrow form of the chest, or the habitual 
tenderness of spirits, formed a more prominent feature of the 
case. But I choose the cutaneous disease, in order to evince 
the connection that subsists between all the forms of disease, 
from the most trifling to the most severe. 

The color in this example is not so high as is customary with 
the eaters of animal food. But she is much less pallid than 
when she conformed to the common habits of life. 

It may be worth while to observe that though in this 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 165 

subject there were many signs of constitutional weakness, yet 
there has never been any deficiency of muscular strength ; on 
the contrary, the muscular power is, and has been, rather 
greater than usually is the lot of persons of her age and sex. 
1 am inchned to infer from this circumstance, that the disposi- 
tion to grow awry, which is so common in growing girls, is 
founded more in a weakness of the cartilaginous and ligamen- 
tous parts of the body, than of the muscles. If any portion of 
these parts is deficient in power, and the muscles have at the 
same time their due, or more than their due tension, the body 
inclines where there is the least resistance, and the symmetry 
of the parts is destroyed. 

Nov. 19th, 1814. — In the spring of the present year this 
young person complained of a sense of weight, which was re- 
ferred to the stomach ; the pulse became rapid, rising to 120 in 
the minute, and the muscular strength was depressed. These 
symptoms lasted three or four days, and then declined. But 
they again recurred, and she continued in this condition, not so 
ill as to be confined, but enough to affect her strength and 
spirits for about three weeks. Then the symptoms went oflf, 
and she regained her usual health. 

We had here, what I think may be properly called the em- 
bryo of some disease, and probably of a very severe one. I 
cannot positively pronounce even what was its seat. But I 
have not thought it right to keep back any fact which may be 
thought by some to militate against my own principles. 



CASE IV. 

Disposition to Hydrocephalus and Apoplexy. 

Nov. 21st, 1814. — A. L., aged 14, had marks in her first 
year of some irregularity of the functions of the brain. These 
were more evident in the second and third years. Her life, at 
this early period, was a continued storm of passion, though the 
natural disposition seemed good. She was plethoric, high 
colored, and the respiration thick. The front teeth, particu- 
larly the two anterior incisors of the upper jaw, were wholly 
incrusted with black matter. 

The use of the pure water was adopted for this child in the 
spring of 1803. Its effects upon the respiration were very 
striking. Before this, she could never bear being tossed with 



166 VEGE^ IBLE DIET 

any quickness, as we are apt to do when playing with 3"oung 
children, without evident marks of terror and uneasiness. But 
in some time after using the distilled water, the same degree of 
violence had no longer the same effect, nor did it cause any 
apparent uneasiness. 

In the course of the ensuinor winter she had a fit of sleep!- 
ness, which lasted a day and a half. In the spring following 
(1804), she had scarlatina very severely, but recovered from it 
perfectly. She continued to use the mixed diet for nearly three 
years and a half. During this time it was observed that her 
nights were very restless ; she often screamed with violence in 
her sleep. She had also frequent pains of the head, which, 
when they affected her, caused a heaviness and pecuhar ap- 
pearance of the eyes, so that it was easy, from the counte- 
nance, to judge when the head was affected. She continued 
to have a very high florid color ; she grew much, but the 
chest was narrow, and the abdomen so protuberant as to be 
very observable. The spirits were also irregular; she was 
easily offended, took little delight in play, but rather affected 
solitude. The pulse was frequent and irregular. The tongue 
was always covered with a thick white crust. The thyroid 
gland was also large, and seemed inclined to swell. 

Under these circumstances she was confined to a vegetable 
diet in November, 1806, and has regularly adhered to it to 
this time. For a verj^ considerable time there was hardly any 
perceptible difference in her constitutional affections. When 
she had been confined to this diet a year and a half, she had 
one night such violent screaming in her sleep, that she brought 
out of their beds the family at whose house she was. In the 
spring, 1809, she retained her high florid color, and it was very 
nearly as strong as when she used animal food. In the autumn 
of this year she had a mild inflammatory fever, which confined 
her to her room, and reduced her a good deal. All this time 
the symptoms of the diseased state of the head, the screamings 
at night, the pains fi-equently recurring, and the dullness and 
heaviness of the eyes, and the other circumstances I have men- 
tioned, continued to harass her. Even at the end of four 
years they were so strong as to attract the observation of those 
with whom she conversed. But now, that is to say, at the end 
of eight years, and, indeed, for the last three years, the whole 
habit is changed, and with it the marks of constitutional dis- 
ease removed. The high florid color of the face is gone, 
though she is at present far from pallid. The chest has be- 
come expanded, and the tumefaction of the abdomen is re- 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 167 

moved. I have a right, therefore, to say, as I have already 
done, that this high florid color, so far from being a sign of 
health, is a sign of disease. The tongue is become quite clean, 
and the teeth are without any incrustation. Indeed, the use 
of the pure water alone took off the remarkable foulness of the 
front teeth. The swelling of the thyroid gland has disap- 
peared. 

If I were to say that the affection of the head is wholly re- 
moved, I should say what is certainly not true. But it is so 
much removed, that she has every external appearance of good 
health ; nor could it be discovered that she has at present any 
complaints about the head, without a minute and critical ex- 
amination. The common observer would pronounce her in 
perfect health. 

The similitude between the circumstances of this disease and 
the pains of the head related in the first case (see p. 151), 
are sufficiently obvious. Tliis case again warrants the conclu- 
sion that, in deep-seated constitutional disease, the effect of 
vegetable diet is slowly, but progressively and regularly, to 
diminish the intensity of the paroxysms which form its exter- 
nal sign and character. 

And when I consider the early period at which these signs 
of disease in the most important organ of the system appeared, 
and the great pertinacity with which they have continued for 
a series of years, I think myself fully warranted in the supposi- 
tion that, under common circumstances, these symptoms must 
have been continually aggravated ; that they would have led to 
a fatal disease of the brain, probably under the form of the 
hydrocephalus internus ; and that it is very unlikely that she 
would have reached puberty, or even that period of life at 
which she is now arrived. 

Though this child has now for several years been in a very 
good general state of health, she has commonly, at least once 
a year, a mild febrile attack w^hich confines her for two or three 
days. The head is always the part most affected. 

Three other young people, members of the same family as 
those whose cases have been related, have used the same regimen 
for about the same period of time. They are and have been, 
since its adoption, without any thing like serious diseases. The 
oldest (now in her nineteenth year) has a better general state 
of health than in the early period of life ; but there are no cir- 
cumstances worthy of relation, except it be, that, notwithstand- 
ing the attention paid to her diet, she has some thickness about 



168 VEGETABLE DIET 

the tliroat. The thyroid gland is large, and the whole throat 
is larger than in common, or than is perfectly natural. The 
gland has not the size which can be called bronchocele, and is 
in texture, as far as can be determined by the feel, sound and 
healthy ; but it is obviously the embryo or germ of a broncho- 
cele. The second, aged thirteen, had some indisposition of a 
few days, when she had left off animal food nine months. 
She also lost her color, which was fine, so as to be a considera- 
ble ornament to her person. This occasioned much regret. 
But, with the above trifling exception, she has enjoyed a com- 
plete and uninterrupted state of health. Her color improves a 
little, but she is still a pallid girl. The third, aged twelve, 
likewise lost his color ; but has scarcely had any indisposition, 
even of half an hour, now for eight years. His color is of late 
years much improved ; but it is not nearly so high as when he 
used animal food, 

I cannot help noticing a fact which occurred to the second 
of these children, the girl of thirteen. It is so trifling and com- 
mon an occurrence, that nothing but the inference to which it 
obviously leads can justify the mention of it. But we are really 
apt to overlook, by attempting to think too deeply, the just 
consequences of what we are seeing every hour. 

In this child then, in the spring of the year 1814, a nail 
came off one of the fingers. There was no accident ; but it 
exfoliated, and, in course of time, was reproduced. Of course, 
this was not unattended with pain and suftering. 

Now what happens on the surface, we must, of necessity, 
suppose may happen in any other part of the body. A part 
may have naturally imperfect powers of conservation. It may, 
therefore, perish, and be reproduced. This would be a disease ; 
and, further, it would happen in defiance of any regimen or any 
method of treatment whatever. Was it some such event as 
this that caused the derangement of health which occurred in 
Case III., mentioned at p. 165 ? 



CASE V. 

Pulmonary Consumption, 



If we except the first of the preceding cases, the facts which I 
have hitherto related are of young people, the general state of 
whose health rather indicated a feeble and defective constitu- 



!N CHRONIC DISEASES. 169 

tion, than disease completely formed. They are not, as I ap- 
prehend the less valuable on that account ; for as many diseases, 
in their perfect form, exclude all hopes of relief, it is the more 
important to attend with care to the symptoms which are the 
precursors of them. In those cases which are to follow, the 
symptoms of disease, for the most part, were more definite and 
strongl}^ marked. 

The difficulty of an investigation, such as is the object of this 
work, is greatly increased by the endless varieties of the human 
constitution, which produces a corresponding variety in the 
symptoms and progress of diseases. If, for example, I cite in 
evidence of the justness of my own conclusions an instance of 
n patient with a large ulcerated cancer having lived four years, 
it may be answered that the same disease has continued a 
longer time in persons living according to the common fashion 
of the country. And it is indeed certain that this species of 
evidence can have little weight, except as applied to the par- 
ticular case in question ; the extent of the disease, the stage in 
which it was taken up, the habit of the patient, and other cir- 
cumstances applicable to this case, and to no other, make the 
deductions from the duration of the disease either just or nuga- 
tory ; and our reliance upon them depends more upon our 
opinion of the judgment of the observer than upon the fact 
itself. 

The same variety makes it almost, if not quite, impossible to 
fix upon certain and definite pathognomic signs of diseases, and 
more particularly in their early stages. But if these diseases 
are such as to afford very slight hopes of success to any method 
of treatment whatever in their more advanced and exquisite 
form, it is more especially incumbent on us to observe atten- 
tively their incipient stages, and to attempt to arrest them at 
this period. 

Pulmonary consumption is such a disease. As it is, when 
arrived at a certain stage, necessarily fatal, this stage should be 
regarded as the extreme effect of the morbific causes applied to 
the body. 

These extreme effects, when they are such as commonly pre- 
cede dissolution at no very remote period, it is in vain to expect 
to remove by the removal of the remote causes of disease. In 
such cases the vitality of the body is radically impaired, and 
the powers of restoration are destroyed. This I apprehend to 
be universally true, whatever is the form of the disease ; though 
the signs of this impaired vitality may be highly diversified, and 
in some cases may be hardly cognizable by the senses. 
8 



170 VEGETABLE DIET 

In conformity with this doctrine, it is incumbent upon me to 
acknowledge that in every case of pulmonary consumption 
which I have deemed a confirmed case, death has ensued, not- 
withstanding the most exact attention to regimen upon the 
principles I have laid down. In some, the benefit for a time, 
even for three or four months, was so striking as to give great 
hopes that the patients would receive a cure. But new symp- 
toms, which it is needless to relate, supervened ; and the issue 
was as I have said. It is right, however, and indeed it is 
necessary to add that none of these patients lived a twelve- 
month. They were therefore very far gone before they came 
under my care. It by no means follows, then, that the same 
fatal issue would have taken place had they been treated at an 
earlier period. 

I think it right also to acknowledge some change of senti- 
ments with regard to symptoms, from what I have expressed 
in my Inquiry into the Origin of Constitutional Diseases. With 
the general doctrine which I have there maintained, that con- 
sumption is a constitutional disease of the whole body, and 
not a local disease confined to the lungs, and that the symp- 
toms indicate the system to be under the influence of a con- 
stant and preternatural stimulation, I continue to be contented ; 
and the more so, as it has been approved by enlightened men. 
But I have said (p. 137 of that work) that the symptoms of in- 
creased fever, and highly rapid pulse toward the close of the 
disease, is an index that the vitality of the body or sensorial 
power is not destroyed at this period. I suspect, however, 
that this is a mistaken view ; and that, in particular, a pulse 
habitually raised much beyond its natural standard of rapidity, 
must be deemed an index of vital powers impaired, or nearly 
destroyed. It is certain that in this case no diet, however 
anti-stimulant, will bring the pulse down to its natural stan- 
dard. 

There is often much difficulty in recognizing pulmonary con- 
sumption in its earlier stages ; and at this period, the subjects 
of this disease are so little aware of their danger, that they are 
too often on the verge of the grave before they think them- 
selves seriously ill. This renders it difficult to show that regi- 
men possesses even a preventive power over this disease. The 
most convincing argument in its favor is that, under the regi- 
men of vegetables and pure water, the chest takes a more per- 
fect and expanded form. A contracted chest is the strongest 
of "all the external signs of a consumptive tendency. If it be- 
come expanded, the pulmonary circulation must become more 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 171 

strong and full, in which, in most, perhaps in all, cases of con- 
sumption, there is a radical and constitutional weakness. There 
are likewise strong indications that this weakness is not confined 
to the pulmonary circulation, but that it pervades the whole 
arterial system ; as is obvious from the general frame of body 
of those who are predisposed to the disease, and might be 
illustrated by a more particular examination of the symptoms. 

But as the pulmonary consumption, like the cancer and 
other chronical diseases, which prove ultimately fatal, is sub- 
ject to great variety in respect to the violence of its symptoms, 
and the length of its duration, opportunities can be of no rare 
occurrence, in which the disease may be so strongly marked as to 
admit of little doubt with regard to its nature, and to be at the 
same time in so early a stage as to afford a rational prospect 
of arresting its progress. Such a case is the following, the 
subject of which was a young woman under my own roof, 
which will, I hope, be considered as affording very satisfactory 
evidence on the subject. 

September the 8th, 1813. — M. W., aged about thirty-three, 
had lived in my family some years as a female servant. She 
came to me when about twenty, and seemed to have no partic- 
ular delicacy or defect of constitution. She was subject, how- 
ever, to convulsive affections of the nature of hysteria. On the 
decline of the convulsions, I generally observed a degree of 
tension and soreness of the abdomen, and I therefore gave her 
aperient medicines, and she used soon to be well again. She 
was also subject to cough occasionally. 

She came with my family to town, in 1803. She used the 
distilled water for her tea, and in other liquids, but did not put 
herself under any restraint as to fermented liquors. However, 
she continued to enjoy pretty good health, as she said, better 
in London than she had done in the country. 

Toward the end of 1807, there appeared in this young wo- 
man strong signs of failing health. She lost her color, and 
looked wretchedly, though there appeared no fixed or deter- 
minate complaint. The appetite failed, and the muscular 
strength was impaired. I advised her to adhere strictly and 
solely to the pure water, and to renounce animal food. She 
excused herself on the plea that she could eat so little ; that 
this small quantity therefore could not hurt her. But continu- 
ing to look extremely ill, she promised to go entirely without i^ 
every second day ; and I believe that she conformed in some 
degree to this rule for about six months. 

In November, 1808, she became extremely ill, so as to ex- 



172 VEGETABLE DIET 

cite apprehensions for her life. She had frequent faintings, 
great pulsations and pains, sometimes of the head, sometimes 
of the feet ; but the symptoms were irregular and anoma- 
lous, so as hardly to admit a definite appellation. After a 
confinement of a fortnight or more, the greater part of the time 
to her bed, she was gradually restored to her former state of 
health. 

As she had no cough that was fixed (though she had fre- 
quent occasional cough), nor made any complaints about her 
chest, I had hitherto made no particular inquiry into the state 
of the organs of respiration. But during her convalescence 
from this illness, I examined into this point minutely. I found 
the breath so straitened that she was unable to expand the 
chest, or take in a full and deep inspiration. She was unable 
at night to lie but on one side. She could not go up stairs, 
without stopping for want of breath. I found, also, that dur- 
ing the last year she had been frequently troubled with pains 
of the side. 

These symptoms, connected with her impaired health for a 
twelvemonth before, will, I should think, be acknowledged to 
be nearly infallible signs of approaching pulmonary consump- 
tion. I therefore from this moment insisted upon her entirely 
relinquishing the use of animal food, and, in all other respects, 
conforming strictly to the regimen I recommended. Though I 
had failed in my attempts to cure confirmed cases, I had hopes 
of relieving this. Here was no fixed or confirmed cough, nor 
any exquisite hectic fever ; the pulse was accelerated after din- 
ner, but in the morning it was nearly natural. The regimen 
was entered upon strictly in December, 1808. 

During the year 1809, she enjoyed a somewhat improved 
general state of health. She was without any serious attack 
of illness (unless it were temporary), and her appetite for food 
improved. But she still looked almost cadaverously pale. All 
the symptoms of the afi'ection of the chest remained also sta- 
tionary — I mean, the inability to take a full inspiration ; to 
ascend the stairs without panting and resting ; to take exer- 
cise without stopping ; she could still lie down only on one 
side. 

During the far greater part of 1810, the same symptoms 
persevered. She often thought herself a good deal better, but 
these were only transient intervals. I myself, having suffered 
some severe disappointments in my hopes of giving relief, be- 
came disheartened, and she frequently talked of going into the 
country. But toward the very end of the year the rehef 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 173 

became decisive. She became able to draw in her breath 
fully and freely ; to hold it for a time after the inspiration ; 
and she recovered the power of lying on either side with- 
out inconvenience. This was (as I have said) at the close 
of the year 1810, when she had used the regimen strictly for 
two years, and had greatly lowered her diet half a year 
more. 

The improvement continued during the year 1811, though 
the marks of disease continued strongly imprinted on her fea- 
tures. She became much more active. She, who the year 
before was unable to go up stairs without panting and stopping 
for breath, was able this year to run up hke a young healthy 
person. Though she was in a lower state of health than pre- 
vious to her illness, she was equal to all her duties as a domes- 
tic servant. Her appetite was quite re-established, and was 
become strong and hearty. She was still more pallid than for- 
merly ; but the cadaverous appearance, which shocked every 
one who saw her, daily wore off. 

During 1812 she improved still more in her looks; and again 
became not void of the attractions of the sex. The health also 
became more firmly and regularly established. Her color, 
though not so strong as of a person in health, was about the 
same as before her illness. She was restored also to nearly 
the same state of constitution as before her illness. Her prin- 
cipal complaints were a return of the same convulsive parox- 
ysms, to which she had been subject formerly ; but these 
attacks were over in two or three days, and had no bad conse- 
quences. 

Toward the end of September, 1812, she quitted her ser- 
vice rather abruptly, and went into the country. It appeared, 
in the sequel, that she was secretly pregnant ; and she was in 
due season safely delivered. She now resumed the com- 
mon habits of life ; and I understood that in consequence 
her color quickly improved, and she became apparently 
more robust ; but I have reason to think that there was no 
real amendment of the health. But having no opportunity of 
being correctly informed of her present situation, I must here 
close the account of the case. 

I offer these facts with confidence, as convincing evidence 
that the symptoms of pulmonary consumption can be controlled 
by regimen, and its progress stopped. This is the case, in 
which the powers of life were the most impaired, of any in 
which this regimen has hitherto been applied with advantage. 

November 29th, 1814. — I have lately been informed that 



174 VEGETABLE DIET 

this young woman continues apparently in good health. I 
must observe, however, that no conclusions of any consequence 
can be drawn from this circumstance. Had she been for the 
two years that elapsed, since she left her place, in another ser- 
vice, living as servants commonly do, I have little doubt that 
the efitect would have been apparent. But, in fact, she has 
been in place, not above three or four months of this time. 
For the remaining part of the time, she has lived with her pa- 
rents, cottagers, in the country, and has been in very reduced 
circumstances. There can be no doubt, then, that she has 
used during this time little or no animal food. It may be said, 
therefore, that her regimen has, in part, been continued, 
though in an imperfect and irregular manner, during the last 
two years. 



CASE VI. 

Asthma. 



November, 1814. — I shall in this place introduce the case of 
a gentleman who has eminently distinguished himself by his 
exertions to diffuse the knowledge of the great benefit to be 
obtained from the strict attention to regimen, both through the 
medium of the press, and by exhibiting to all, who chose to apply, 
a beautiful family of children bred up, with regard to diet, on 
the principles I have labored to establish. These exertions 
were wholly disinterested on his part ; and though they may 
have exposed him to the ridicule or the obloquy of the selfish 
or supercilious pretenders to exclusive knowledge, will ever, in 
the estimation of true philanthropy, do equal honor to his head 
and his heart, and entitle him to the noble distinction of a 
benefactor of mankind. He has already given a statement of 
the facts regarding his own disease, as they stood when I pub- 
lished my " Reports on Cancer," that is to say, in the begin- 
ning of 1809. In his own publication, entitled " The Return 
to Nature," he contented himself without referring to this state- 
ment. But as several unforeseen circumstances have occurred 
since that time, I have thought it right to bring forward at one 
view the whole chain of facts. In framing this statement, I 
shall take as my guide several letters, which are before me, 
some oral communications, and a few personal observations. 



IN CilRONlC DISEASES. 175 

T. F. Newton, Esq., aged 48, became subject to asthmatic 
attacks at a very early period of life. The first seizure was 
when he was seven years old, in one of the islands of the West 
Indies. Soon afterward, he removed to England, and suffered 
only occasionally from this cause till he went to Oxford. Dur- 
ing the whole time that he was at Christ Church College, he 
had repeated attacks of it, and in the night, at least, it was 
constantly upon him ; in so much that he looked with pleasure 
to his retui'n to the West Indies, in hopes of relief from the 
voyage. But in this he was disappointed, as from that period 
he was more afifected, as well in the West Indian Islands as in 
North America, in various parts of the continent of Europe, 
and afterward in England. 

The attacks usually continued from one week to three, during 
which he could not lie down in his bed, but was obliged, night 
after night, to rest inclined upon a table. He was not without 
considerable intervals of ease, and had occasionally a respite of 
some months ; but it very seldom extended beyond three ; and 
even during these intervals there was a constant sensation of 
uneasiness at the breast upon inspiration. 

During the years 1804 and 1805, Mr. Newton lived in Here- 
fordshire, and he was never more indisposed than during those 
years. The complaint seemed very much to increase upon 
him ; especially in the violence of the spasmodic motion, with 
which, during the paroxysms, the head was precipitated to 
the table, on which he used to lean, whether during the day or 
the night. Sometimes for a week together he did not venture 
to lie down in bed, from apprehension of suffocation ; and I am 
persuaded, from my own observations, that no example of this 
disease, not in its very last stages, could be more severe, at- 
tended with more stricture on the respiration, and turgescence 
about the head. 

In this last year (1805), my relation. Dr. Blount, of Here- 
ford, put into his hands my book on the Origin of Constitu- 
tional Diseases, and recommended him to adopt the use of dis- 
tilled instead of common water. He never was a greater suf- 
ferer than at the time he made this change ; but he found it to 
be immediately beneficial. The general state of health im- 
proved, and during the first two years and a half he had but 
twice any returns of asthma. These attacks were sharp, but 
of very short duration. 

Mr. Newton was fully convinced that this attention alone 
would be enough to preserve his health ; and hoped that in 
time the disposition to asthma would, without any other pre- 



176 VEGETABLE DIET 

caution, wear off. But I had seen enough of the fallacy of these 
expectations to indulge in such hopes. I assured him repeatedly 
that unless he attended strictly to the whole of the regimen he 
would be ultimately disappointed. 

Therefore, at length, after many scruples, and no small ap- 
prehension of injury, lie resolved to join' to his attention to the 
fluids a strict vegetable regimen. The immediate motive to this 
was, I believe, a respect and confidence in my opinion ; though 
I apprehend that a feeling and consciousness that his health 
was not in a firm state concurred in determining his resolution. 
He began greatly to diminish the quantity of animal food toward 
the close of 1807, and became very strict about the beginning 
of the following summer (1808). 

For three years and upward after this, Mr. Newton had 
very little asthma. Three or four paroxysms came on which 
were, for the time they lasted, as severe as any he ever suffered ; 
but they passed off very quickly, causing a confinement of two 
or three days only. 

But the health was at this time in a very precarious and even 
critical state. The pulse was commonly very rapid, sometimes 
rising even to 120 strokes in the minute. There was frequently 
great quickness of respiration, with copious mucous defluxions ; 
and through the first and second winters he kept himself prin- 
cipally within doors, being afraid to expose himself to the cold, 
and particularly to the damps of the evening. But though 
often indisposed, and in a valetudinary condition, the health 
gradually and progressively amended under the vegetable regi- 
nen. 

Toward the end of May, 1811, Mr. Newton began to feel 
indisposed ; the lungs became loaded with phlegm ; there was 
a sensation of heaviness about the head, and excessive itching 
about the eyes. Going up stairs caused great breathliness and 
uneasiness. After two or three uneasy nights he experienced 
a very severe attack of asthma, which began on the 2d of June. 
The head was drawn spasmodically forward, as in the former 
paroxysms, the pulse was so quick as scarcely to be counted, 
the feet swelled, and at night there was a disposition to idle 
talking, which must be deemed a species of mild delirium, though 
he was in a measure conscious of it. The stricture on the breath 
was great, but the respiration was more free than in the former 
severe fits. He could not, however, enter a bed for six nights. 
Then the paroxysm appeared to be fast declining. But it re- 
turned again with nearly as much violence as at first. For the 
greater part of another fortnight he passed his nights upright 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 177 

in a chair, or leaning on a pillow placed on a table. The pulse 
continued accelerated, and the ankles swelled, the eyes inflamed, 
and the whole habit appeared extremely turgescent. Walking 
ten yards caused much fatigue, and brought on shortness of 
breath. But about the 21st or 22d of the month the expecto- 
ration became free and copious, a mild diarrhoea supervened, 
and all the symptoms subsided. He continued in a weak but 
convalescent state for a month or six weeks, when he was re- 
stored to health. 

An attack of this kind, after having submitted to the most 
rigid abstemiousness upward of three years^ was enough to 
shake the confidence of an}^ man who had not the most firm 
conviction that he was doing the only thing that gave him a 
chance of ever enjoying health. But Mr. Newton was conscious 
of having received great benefit from his abstinence. He argued 
also from the state of his children, and said " That reo-imen 
must be the best which produces such health and strength as 
are visible in them." He therefore persevered in his habits 
with unabated zeal, and I am happy to say he has received the 
due reward of his confidence and perseverance ; for though he 
appeared thin and meagre, he had for ten months very good 
health ; and, as I heard him say, now for the first time during 
twenty years he passed a winter wholly free from his old dis- 
order. He was not only without asthmatic paroxysms, but 
Avithout any material difficulty of respiration. 

But the following June, 1812, brought back at the very same 
period a relapse of the disorder. The general features of the 
parox^'sm very nearly resembled that of the preceding year, 
and its duration was about as long. But it was by no means 
so violent at its access, and he recovered from it with much 
more facility. As soon as the disease had passed through its 
usual stages, he felt well. It was also preceded by little or no 
indisposition. During this attack the pulse was much accele- 
rated ; at one time it mounted to 118 strokes in the minute, and 
was rather strong and full. 

Another respite as perfect as the former succeeded, in which 
for eleven months Mr. NeAvton enjoyed perfectly good health, 
free from asthma and other serious illness ; and he adhered to 
his regimen with greater strictness, if possible, than ever. Often 
has he made his dinner on a little fruit, dried raisins, bread, and 
three or four potatoes ; and upon this strict course of abstinence 
has found no defect of strength or nutrition. On the contrary, 
the symptoms with which he has been occasionally affected have 
been accompanied with marks of plenitude and oppression. 
8* 



178 VEGETABLE DIET 

The same month of June, both in 1813 and 1814, and very 
nearly the same day, brought back the asthmatic paroxysms. 
But that of 1813 was very mild. Though the disease hung 
upon him for a month, the confinement to the house was not 
above five days. He had again an interval of eleven months 
of very good health. In the paroxysm of 1814 I did not see 
him, Mr. Newton having quitted London. But from the account 
he sent me of it, it was more severe than during either of the 
two former years. It lasted also five weeks. Since that time 
he has been, and is, comfortable in health. 

I would observe, as a point of pathology, that the swelling 
of the legs in this case has not been an anasarcous or dropsical 
swelling. The whole tumefaction has been tense and elastic, 
not yielding or pitting. 

It is necessary, in order to form a fair judgment cf this case, 
to pass in review its most striking points. They are shortly 
these. Mr. Newton began to use distilled water in 1805, and 
adopted the complete regimen in 1808. From this period of 
1805 to June, 1811, he had, upon the whole, very little asthma, 
hardly a singular regular fit of any duration ; and we were per- 
suaded that the disease was in a manner eradicated. But to 
our disappointment, and in a certain degree to our mortification, 
there has been, now for four years, an annual paroxysm, declin- 
ing upon the whole, but not quite uniformly, in severity. It has 
regularly come on in the month of June, which whole month 
it occupies, and encroaches a little upon July. Such is its pre- 
sent habit, and such we may suppose that for the present it 
will continue. I shall briefly attempt to explain these phe- 
nomena. 

First, it must be allowed, that the great freedom from asth- 
ma, for near six years, was not entirely due to his regimen. 
Diseases we know will change their forms. Asthma will end 
in consumption, hydrothorax, dropsy, disease of the heart, or 
other fatal maladies. It is obvious from the delicacy of Mr. 
Newton's frame, and the great severity of his disease, that he 
is not formed, under common habits, for long life. I am there- 
fore satisfied that there was, about the time that Mr. Newton 
adopted a change of habit, some secret constitutional change 
which concurred with his diet to keep off the asthmatic parox- 
ysms. 

The records of medicine are full of such examples, which, 
gave occasion to much fallacy and false experience. I shall 
mention one which lately came under my own observation. An 
elderly gentlewoman was seized, in the month of June, 1814, 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 179 

with a paralytic disorder. She informed me that she had been 
subject for a great many winters to a cough, attended with 
copious expectoration. But during the preceding winter, though 
the most rigid that had been experienced for many years, she 
was wholly without her cough. It would be easy to collect 
numerous analogous facts, which indicate a change to have 
taken place in the habits of the constitution, unaccompanied by 
active disease, or any evident external signs. 

Now, secondly, we have seen in the first case which has 
been related that gout, which had been many years latent, and, 
as it were, dormant in the constitution, became active and evi- 
dent, producing its proper symptoms of pains and lameness, as 
the first effect of the vegetable regimen. I am, therefore, fur- 
ther satisfied that in Mr. Newton's case something similar, 
though less obvious, took place, and that the first effect of the 
vegetable regimen was to re-establish the asthmatic paroxysms. 
Whatever is a person's habitual disease, is to that person, rela- 
tively, a state of health; and such disease cannot disappear 
without an evidently sufficient cause, without a suspicion that 
it will be followed by something worse. If therefore the hypo- 
thesis be just, it must follow that this re-establishment of the 
regular asthmatic paroxysms was the sign of an improved state 
of the constitution. 

If it be asked, finally, what this gentleman has really gained 
by his strict course of temperance and abstinence, I answer 
that, 1st. Life has been prolonged, and that, probably, several 
years. If I am right in supposing that there was a constitu- 
tional change about the year 1805, we may calculate that there 
have been five or six years, at least, already gained. It is im- 
possible, however, to demonstrate this, and therefore I shall not 
dwell upon it. 2d. Instead of being an habitual invalid, Mr. 
Newton has enjoyed several years of relative comfort and good 
health, using much exercise, and walking occasionally several 
miles in the day. His frame is delicate ; his pulse habitually 
too rapid. He furnishes another example of its being impossi- 
ble to reduce the pulse to its natural standard by regimen. 
Sd. Instead of being the constant victim of asthma, rarely 
escaping a paroxysm for three months, Mr. Newton has had 
but one annual paroxysm for the last four years, besides the 
interval of almost, total cessation for five previously. Those 
advantages he deems an abundant compensation for all the 
deprivations which sensualists may suppose he has imposed 
upon himself. 

I cannot withhold offering in this place a conjecture with 



180 VEGETABLE DIET 

regard to the regular recurrence of the asthmatic paroxysm at 
the same period of the year, which has occurred now for four 
successive years. 

I suppose that it is allowed that the lungs themselves are 
the primary seat of the disease ; and I will suppose further 
that the membrane investing the bronchise and the air vesicles 
of the lungs is the part immediately affected. It must be pre- 
sumed that this membrane is liable to the same sort of diseases 
as the other membranes of the body ; but the consequences will 
depend upon the particular situation and functions of the part. 

Now amonof other affections of membranes there is one which, 
though not very obvious, is not often adverted to; it is that 
there takes place a species of exfoliation or sloughing ; the mem- 
brane is destroyed, it is thrown off, and is regenerated. This 
whole process, of course, takes up some time, during which 
there must, of necessity, be a derangement of the functions, and 
4 suffering of the individual. 

We see this phenomenon on the external surface of the body ; 
the epidermis peels off; and occasionally preserves its continuity, 
and the form of the part which it invested. It comes off the 
hand or foot like a glove or stocking. At other times it sepa- 
rates in flakes, which is a daily occurrence. But the intestinal 
evacuations give us more frequent and incontestible evidence of 
the same fact. Every one must have observed, occasionally, 
membranes evacuated preserving the form of the intestine. It 
is much more common at the close of a diarrhoea to observe a 
number of flakes, or films, floating in the liquid matter of the 
stool. This is commonly the solution and termination of the 
disease. These films can be nothing else than an exfoliation of 
the internal or mucous membrane of the intestine. 

It can hardly be doubted that the stomach itself is subject 
to a similar affection, though it is not possible to ascertain the 
fact by ocular proof. A person is seized with a constant vom- 
iting, rejecting every thing which is taken into it, which lasts 
perhaps a month or six weeks. It will then cease, as it were, 
spontiineously, and be no more heard of. What rational ac- 
count can be given of such a phenomenon, unless it be what I 
have often suspected to be the fact, that the internal coat of 
the stomach exfoliates, and is regenerated ? 

I have had reason to suspect that the bladder is occasionally 
subject to a similar affection; and, in general, that none of the 
mucous surfaces are exempt from it. 

We may readily transfer these observations to the mucous 
membrane lining the bronchiae. It gives, I think, a more ra- 



IN CflRONIC DISEASES. 181 

tional account of most of the phenomena of the astnmatic par- 
oxysms than any pretended spasm upon the vessels or mem- 
branes. It accounts also, not inaptly, for the regular return of 
the disease. We know that the vital powers of all newly 
formed parts are weak. It is therefore easily conceivable that, 
under whatever circumstances the membrane has once perished 
and been regenerated, the same phenomena will recur under 
similar circumstances. It may be supposed to have received 
the same sort or quantity of vital power, as the horns of the 
stag, or the skin of the snake. It is enough, however, to have 
thrown out the idea. 

As Mr. Newton has himself informed the public that he has 
introduced this regimen, which I recommend to the valetudi- 
narians, as the regular habit of his family, and has at the same 
time announced the complete success of the experiment at the 
period of his publication, I need say no more than that he has 
continued to follow the same course now for nearly four more 
years, and that the result has continued to be completely satis- 
factory. More perfect and even robust health was never dis- 
played among any set of young people. The female head of 
the family, to whose spirit, independence, and intelligence much 
of the emancipation from the yoke of vulgar and destructive 
prejudices must be ascribed, enjoys an activity of mind and 
body rarely equaled in her sex. Our feeble and delicate coun- 
trywomen will perhaps be shocked when they learn that this 
lad}^, bred up in habits as delicate and luxurious as the most 
sensitive of themselves, has been enabled, during the course of 
this present year, to walk thirty miles in one day. She has a 
high color, and is full of flesh. Such are the real mischiefs, 
and such the debility, which are the consequences of a vege- 
table regimen, when used by persons of good health and of 
sound constitutions. 

Since the pubhcation of Mr. Newton's work, another child 
has been added to his family, who is now three years old, and 
who has been dieted on the same plan. This child, like the 
others, is distinguished for health, vigor, and beauty. 

Among this family of five children, there has been during 
eight years one example of an external disease. It was my 
wish and intention to give a detail of the circumstances ; but I 
am prevented by injunctions with which I feel it necessary to 
comply. I must content myself, therefore, with saying that it 
continued some months, and then ceased. During its course, 
the general health continued perfect. We order regimen, as 
was properly remarked by a professional gentleman, who was a 



182 VEGETABLE DIET 

witness of the facts, for the sake of the general health. As 
this was unaffected, during the course of this disease, it effected 
whatever could be reasonably expected from it. 

The remaining children have suffered nothing but the most 
trifling ephemeral attacks, hardly worth mentioning ; real ill- 
ness, such as to require confinement, they have never suffered. 
The slight affections which have occurred, have been just 
sufficient to prove that, had they been treated like other chil- 
dren, they would have had no exemption from the common lot. 



CASE VII. 

Cough, Difficult Breathing, and General Debility. 

22d November, 1814. — I am acquainted with this case only 
from the relation of the patient, the disease having existed be- 
fore I became acquainted with her. It is shortly as follows : 

M , a female servant of Mr. Newton's, about thirty -six 

years old, had a very indifferent state of health ; she was sub- 
ject to very bad coughs, and had twice attacks, which, fn">m 
the description given of them, I judge to have been a kind of 
cynanche laryngea. She had great stricture and difficulty of 
respiration, and coughed with a hoarse and croupy noise, the 
perspiration at the same time running off her forehead in tor- 
rents. This must have been about the years 1804 or 1805. 

This woman, living with and being the nurse-maid to Mr. 
Newton's children, was easily persuaded to conform to their 
habits ; and the consequence has been very salutary to herself. 
The disposition to catarrh is removed ; nor has she again had 
any of the apparently croupy attacks. The general health 
also very much improved, and has indeed been perfectly 
good. 

She lost neither flesh nor color from leaving of!" animal 
food, and the strength was unimpaired. She is a woman who 
looks worn, and would pass for several years older than she 
really is. But this appearance was formed wholly before she 
adopted her new habits. 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 183 

CASE VIII. 

ALSthma, Debility, and Loss of Flesh. 

Sept. 16, 1813. — Mr. P , a gentleman resident in Lon- 
don, aged thirty-four, had an attack, which was called pleuritic, 
twelve or fourteen years ago. After this illness, he found 
himself subject to fits of asthma. The disease increased grad- 
ually upon him, and during the years 1806 and ISOY, its seve- 
rity was so great as to render his. life miserable. During these 
years he put himself under the care of Dr. Bree ; but the vio- 
lence of the disorder continued unabated. In the beginnino- of 
1808 he consulted me, and consented to give a fair trial to the 
regimen I advise in chronic diseases. 

I found him thin and paUid, and with the appearance of 
languor. The bowels were habitually bound, and the evacua- 
tions foul and dark. Besides his asthma, he complained of 
frequent pains of the side. But the pulse was not accelerated. 
He began his regimen in February, 1808. 

During the first ten months, this gentleman experienced no 
alleviation of his disease. It was to this case I alluded in my 
" Reports on Cancer," p. 184, in these words : " But in a third, 
nine complete months have elapsed without the smallest ap- 
parent alleviation of the symptoms." A large portion of this 
time was spent under the paroxysms of this painful disease, 
breathing with much difficulty, unable to lie down in bed, and 
at the height of the paroxysm, the legs swelled. This last 
observation was made by Dr. Frampton, senior physician of 
the London Hospital, who, on one occasion, saw him for me. 

At the end of ten months, he began to receive sensible bene- 
fit, and he enjoyed an interval of eight months of improved 
health, and was free from asthma. He then suffered a relapse 
of considerable severity ; the asthma returned, so that for a 
foi'tnight, he was unable to get into a bed ; and it hung upon him 
in a less deo^ree for six weeks or two months lono-er. This re- 
lapse came on when he was a short time at Cambridge ; but the 
connection between it and the change of situation was not at 
that time observed. During the remainder of the year, he had 
some dyspnoea daily, but nothing that amounted to asthma, 
or that prevented him from lying comfortably in bed the whole 
night. 

In the beginning of 1810 he had another asthmatic paroxysm, 
but it was very slight, and of short duration. After this time 



184 VEGETABLE DIET 

the health greatly improved. During the remainder of the year 
he was free from asthma. He rose in the morning with some 
thickness of breathing, but it wore ofiF in two or three hours. 

Tlie year 1811 was also passed without any asthmatic par- 
oxysm. He was often, from his sensations, under apprehensions 
that it would return, but it never did so in fact. The approaches 
to the disease speedily disappeared by an easy and copious ex- 
pectoration. About this time smoking of stramonium was ex- 
tolled as a cure of the asthma. Mr. P used it, and found 

froiii it considerable advantage. It relieved the breath, and 
promoted the expectoration. It is obvious, however, that In 
these circumstances it is hardly possible to determine what was 
really gained by this practice. 

During these last two years he was very thin, and the coun- 
tenance, which was naturally palhd, became still more so, with 
the marks of a diseased habit strongly impressed upon it. But 
in 1812, the appearance much improved, the color became 
stronger, the expression of languor vanished from the face, and 
ho was sensible of a considerable increase both of general health 
and of bodily strength. The tendency to asthma appeared very 
nearly, if not wholly conquered. Under these circumstances 
he went on a party of pleasure, at the end of the spring, to the 
sea side. 

He had not, however, left London two days before his asthma 
returned with all its attendant circumstances. The breathing 
become laborious, and for a fortnight, nearly, he was unable to 
lie down in his bed. He returned to London with the asthma 
still upon him ; in town it quickly declined, and left him. 

Since that time, now fifteen months, he has had no return of 
asthmatic paroxysm. In the spring of 1813, he had some thick- 
ness of breathing, which was an approach toward his old dis- 
ease, but it did not force him to quit his bed, or to raise him- 
self fi-om a horizontal posture. The general state of health is 
so much improved, that from being an habitual and almost a 
desperate invalid, he is habitually and permanently well. 

It is perfectly clear that the immediate exciting cause of the 
asthmatic paroxysm which took place in 1812 (the only circum- 
stance like a serious return of the disease for the space of nearly 
four years), was the removal out of the atmosphere of London 
to that of the sea coast. Now the impurities of the London at- 
mosphere must be reckoned an unnatural and morbid irritation 
to the surface of the lungs, and that this irritation causes no 
uneasiness can be accounted for only by the power of habit. 
In consequence of this habit, a harmony is established between 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 185 

the different surfaces or membranes of the body, and the sub- 
stances which are habitually applied to them. Uneasiness is 
occasioned when this harmony is disturbed by a change of the 
properties of the substances applied. We may see, therefore, 
from this example, how inconsequently we reason when we sup- 
pose that a change is unwholesome or improper because it may 
at first excite uneasy sensation. 

This may be applied to the food and the drink we apply to 
the stomach, as much as to the air applied to the lungs. The 
very change may excite uneasy feehng, though the new habit 
may be much more salubrious than the old one. 

If it be asked what proof the case just related affords of the 
utility of the distilled water, it must be granted that it affords 
none which is direct, for there was certainly no perceptible ad- 
vantage from the first change of regimen. But the fact of the 
cure (for such it may very fairly be called) is a sufficient proof 
of its utility, since there can be no doubt that vegetable diet 
alone would not have effected it. Mr. P. had received the 
common advice, to be sparing of vegetables, and to avoid all 
fruit, salads, etc. I ventured to give the very opposite advice 
to this, and no detriment whatever has been observed from the 
use of matters of this kind. 

16th December, 1814. — I have great pleasure in stating that 
this gentleman continues in greatly improved health, and with- 
out asthma. It may be said that, according to all appearance, 
this most painful and dangerous disease has, in this instance, 
been fairly subdued. He is still affected, occasionally, with 
pains of the side, and the bowels are not quite free. But the 
health is, upon the whole, good, and the general appearance 
very much improved. 



CASE IX. 

Paralysis. 



23d September, 1813. — Mrs. O , a married lady, aged 

about forty-seven, of a plethoric habit of body, was attacked 
in the spring of 1809 with a palsy of the left eye and cheek. 
She could not close the eyelids of that side, and the mouth was 
drawn considerably awry on the opposite side. She had also 
frequent vertigo, so that she was under continual apprehensions 



186 VEGETABLE DIET 

of a fresli attack. She was bled, cupped, and frequently purged 
copiously", and put upon a vegetable diet. But by this plan she 
felt her strength impaired, but the disease showed no disposi- 
tion to yield. The eyes were so susceptible of the light that she 
was obliged to wear a shade. Besides this, the spirits were so 
low that she was the prey to a constant melancholy. The mus 
cular strenorth was entire. 

As she found no benefit from low living, she had resumed 
the common diet. But, at my suggestion, she returned to her 
vegetable regimen in the summer of that year, and she united 
with it the use of distilled water. By this method she felt no 
sinking of the strength. In about two months she began to 
regain some power of closing the eyelids, and in a twelvemonth 
it was completely restored. But during the whole of the first 
year she continued in a wretched state of low spirits, looked 
extremely ill, and continued under constant apprehensions of a 
fresh attack. 

After this time the amendment of the general health became 
more evident. She regained her looks, from having been pallid 
she became florid, and was able to amuse herself and to attend 
to her domestic occupations. The painful impression of light 
upon the sensorium was removed, so that the shade over her 
eyes was no longer necessary, the vertigo in a great measure 
disappeared, and her great lowness of spirits was removed. But 
the affection of the sensorium was not removed, it was only alle- 
viated. Frequent pains of the head recmTcd, for which she 
had often recourse to cupping. 

And in this condition she has continued nearly ever since, 
the general health rather improving than otherwise, enjoying a 
state that is comparatively very comfortable, though by no 
means restored to that in which she was previous to the attack. 

This lady has neither lost flesh nor color by abstaining from 
animal food. But her muscular strength is certainly diminish- 
ed. It is, however, to be considered that she was probably 
morbidly strong at the time of this attack. It is, indeed, evi- 
dent that a person may have too much strength, as well as too 
little. In such cases, to have this unnatural and morbid 
strength removed, cannot, with any appearance of reason, be 
deemed injurious. 

What I wish particularly to call the attention of the reader 
to, in the present case, is the phenomena of the eye, since they 
afford an ocular demonstration of the eftect of the septic poison 
of water on the system, and of the consequent beneficial effects 
of the distilled water. . Palsy is one of the diseases which I 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 187 

have seen ascribed to the sudden discontinuance of animal food, 
by writers who either reason at random, or who draw hasty 
inferences from a partial view^ of facts. The charge is so ob- 
viously groundless, that it is not worth while to enter into a 
formal refutation of it. Nothing, however, is more certain 
than that palsies have taken place in persons who were living 
on a vegetable diet. Besides the common experience of the 
poor, who can claim no exemption from these diseases, direct 
evidence has been given of this fact, by persons who have 
adopted a diet of this kind. For example. Dr. Desaguliers is 
recoided to have had a paralytic attack, after he had used a 
vegetable diet for ten months. And I have seen myself, in the 
course of the present year (1813), a woman affected very nearly 
as the subject of the present case, that is to say, with the cheek 
paralytic, and unable to close the eyelids of the same side. 
This woman, from the necessity of her circumstances, did not 
use animal food above once a week ; and her palsy therefore 
could, with no degree of probability, be ascribed to it. We 
must look then to other causes of these diseases. 

I'Zth December, 1814. — I understand that this lady continues 
in improved health ; but I have not been able to see her for 
some months. 



CASE X. 

Tumor of the Arm. 



23d i^ovember, 1814. — A medical gentleman, aged thirty- 
eeven, has had for a number of years a tumor on one of his 
fore-arms, which had caused great uneasiness. It was at first 
not larger than a pin's head, but gradually, in the course of 
years, has increased to the size of a small pea, and was so ex- 
quisitely painful that he could not bear it to be touched. 
There was also much shooting, and other uneasiness through it, 
independent of external violence. It appeared after he had 
grown up, but while he was a very young man. 

This gentleman adopted this regimen, but from other motives, 
in the year 1809. His health improved very greatly under it; 
but for the whole first year, there was no sensible chano-e in 
the sensations of the tumor. It was equally sensible to the 
touch, and had the same shooting pains. But at the expiration 



18S VEGETABLE DIET 

of i;ie twelvemonth, or thereabouts, it became greatly soothed, 
and finally it ceased to give pain, except very trifling, occasion- 
ally, and it became much less tender to the touch. 

In its appearance, this little tumor remains unchanged. 
He thinks it has increased a little in size ; but so little, that 
perhaps he is mistaken. It is still no larger than a pea. 

Though this little highly painful and irritable tumor is well 
known to the surgeons, and occasionally extirpated, I cannot 
find that they give it any specific name, which must be my 
apology for the general appellation given to this case. 

This gentleman adopted the regimen for the sake of his 
health, which had been very considerably deranged for some 
years. I shall only say, in general, that it has very much 
improved ia consequence. But I do not think the symp- 
toms sufficiently definite to make it proper to relate them 
minutely. 

On this subject, I have heard him assert that for two years 
before he changed his diet, his spirits were so low that he was 
unable to smile. It is no new observation, that vegetable diet 
has been useful in melancholic disorders. A case is given by 
Dr. Lobb, of a gouty pain of the stomach, with flatulency and 
melancholia, cured by vegetable diet. The disorder yielded 
in a few months, but the regimen had been continued fifteen 
years. 

He has also been in the habit of illustrating the superiority 
of this regimen by saying, that the diff"erence of comfort, ex- 
perienced between it and the common mode of life, is quite as 
great as what persons experience between the common mode 
of life and directly riotous living. At the same time he ac- 
knowledges that, for the pleasm-e of the palate, the common 
mode of living bears the palm. It may however be doubted 
whether this be not the mere consequence of habit. 



SOME REMARKS ON SCROFULA. 

The observations I have been enabled to make on this disease 
are not numerous. Diseases termed scrofulous are for the most 
part external, and fall principally under the care of surgeons. 
The more common form of the disease, marked by tumors or 
ulcers about the throat, however disagreeable or tormenting, is 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 189 

not a dangerous complaint. The stamina in such a disease 
may be strong ; the disease often subsides entirely ; and the 
patient may live healthy for many years. On this account, 
such subjects can bear animal food and fermented liquors ; and 
the current of prejudice is too strong in favor of this practice to 
afford any chance at present of a successful resistance to it. 
Of the more serious affections, terminating in death or mutila- 
tion, and which are the fit objects of this regimen, I have not 
obtained any proper examples. 

Scrofula frequently takes place in children who are confined 
nearly to vegetable food. It is, therefore, one of the evils 
charged by superficial observers upon this species of food. In 
order not to withhold from my reader some of the most con- 
fident assertions which I have met with on this subject, I ahall 
here insert an extract from a work of Dr. Beddoes, which, I 
suspect, has had no small influence in forming the present state 
of pubhc opinion. 

"When children are fed," says Dr. Beddoes, ** on vegetables, 
with little or no admixture of animal food, they die in great 
numbers of scrofulous affections. In the families of the poor, 
who cannot command better aliment, this is one principal cause 
of mortality ; and in the families of the rich, who in conse- 
quence of the erroneous medical notions, sometimes will not 
allow a proper proportion of animal food, scrofula often takes 
place (though in a slighter degree, for it is checked by other 
circumstances), and the foundation of consumption is laid. 
There are (as a writer of superior merit on the king's evil ob- 
serves), among the higher classes, some who keep their children 
to the fifth, or even the seventh year, upon a strict vegetable 
and milk diet, believing that they thus render the constitution 
signal service. I have, however, frequently pointed out to pa- 
rents, whom I have heard boasting of the advantages of this 
management, either an enlarged abdomen, or some other sign 
of an incipient scrofulous indisposition, which has convinced 
them that their children were far from being so healthy as they 
supposed. In our temperate latitudes, a diet of this kind is 
certainly not proper after the age of two years. Where a feeble 
constitution coincides with hereditary disposition to scrofula, 
or rickets, tender meat and soups are particularly serviceable. 
Dr. Weikard perfectly agrees with me in opinion. He observes, 
that children brought up according to the fashion of the great 
(without animal food) are particularly liable to rickets. Dr. 
Kuempf attests, that by animal diet he has restored a great 
variety of children, who had been dreadfully reduced by 



190 VEGETABLE DIET 

water-gruel, milk, and vegetables. Dr. Vogel also asserts, 
that animal food is falsely held to be a cause of atrophy, and 
that children, from whom such food is withheld, oftener fall 
into an atrophy than those to whom it is allowed. (C. G. T. 
Kortum de vitus scrophulosis. I. 3. 50.) These testimonies 
may be received with fuller assurance, because in other re- 
spects the authors are strongly disposed in favor of that theory, 
which still not unfrequently deludes English parents with the 
false hope of rendering the blood of their children pure, and 
their humors mild, by millet pudding, and by other prepara- 
tions of vegetable substances in over-proportion." 

It is no wonder that, with such strong assertions as these 
staring them in the face, parents should be terrified at the 
thoughts of confining their children to vegetable food ; and 
should apprehend that they were inflicting an irreparable in- 
jury on the dearest objects of their affection. These are the 
doctrines, which, coming from what has been thought the best 
authority, pass from mouth to mouth, and have excited such 
an hostility to simple nutriment. It is therefore incumbent on 
me to examine a httle the validity of this accusation. 

"When children are fed on vegetables, with little or no 
admixture of animal food, they die in great numbers of scrofu- 
lous affections." It is difficult to disprove assertions to which 
we cannot attach definite ideas. Scrofulous affections are 
commonly external disorders, unattended with danger. What 
diseases Dr. Beddoes understood by this term, is not very 
clear ; I will suppose, however, fatal chronical diseases attend- 
ed with ulcerations, or abscesses, as lumbar abscess, psoas ab- 
scess, white swelling, etc. 

Now, Dr. Watt has given us (annexed to his treatise on chin- 
cough) a register of all the deaths of children to the age of 
ten years at Glasgow, for thirty years. The diseases are ar- 
ranged under the following heads : Small-pox, Measles, Chin- 
cough, Stopping, Water in the Head, Teething, Bowelliives, 
Still-born. I cannot find here a single head under which 
these fatal " scrofulous affections" can be properly included. 
Though, certainly, some such diseases must in thirty years have 
occurred, and even not unfrequently, and we may therefore 
allow that these bills are defective, yet it is equally evident 
that such cases must have formed a small proportion indeed 
of the mass of mortality in childhood. 

The London bills of mortality give as little countenance to 
this assertion. Let us take a single year : it shall be the first 
that offers, namely, the years 1795 and 1796, which are the 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 191 

first found in Dr. Willan's " Reports on tlie diseases of Lon- 
don." The whole mortality of London, from the 22d of De- 
cember, 1795, to the lYth of December, 1796, stated in the bills, 
is 18,664.* Of these there are stated to have died of abscess, 
twenty-one ; sores, four ; ev4l, five ; ulcers, two ; rickets, one : 
total, thirty-tkjee. These are the only heads, out of this great 
mass of mortality, under which fatal ''scrofulous affections" 
can be arranged. Of this whole mortality of London, two 
thirds of the deaths take place before sixteen years of age. 
We see, therefore, how small a proportion of the diseases of 
early life are fatal ** scrofulous affections." 

I look in vain for a private authority for the support for thj3 
assertion. Dr. Woolcombe has given a catalogue of nearly 
6000 patients, admitted at the Plymouth public dispensary, 
for near seven years. In this long catalogue there are found, 
arthropuosis, one ; hydrarthus, ten ; rachitis, nineteen ; scrofula, 
forty-one. Of these cases, one under the head of rachitis is 
marked as having been fatal. If it were true, that " great 
numbers ' of children die of this sort of disorders, we shoul-d 
certainly have some vestiges of the fact, either in public or in 
private records. 

In opposition to the accusation of vegetable diet causing 
tumefaction of the abdomen, I must testify that, twice in my 
own family, I have seen such swellings disappear under a vege- 
table regimen, which had been formed under a diet of animal 
food. I must refer to pp. 161 and 166 of this work. These 
facts I cannot but regard as entitled to infinitely more atten- 
tion than any observations on the poor, who are addicted to 
many depraved habits, and exposed to complicated causes of 
disease. 

We may judge from these facts, how idle and ill grounded 
these apprehensions really are. But the general charge of 
vegetable diet causing scrofulous disease must be allowed so 
much weight, as to amount to a demonstration, that it has 
often been observed under such a diet ; and, in consequence, 
that such a diet has of itself no tendency to cure it. In the 
last four years, several cases of glandular swellings have oc- 
curred to me at the general dispensary ; and I have made par- 
ticular inquiries into the mode of living of such children. In 
the majority they had animal food. In one child, of under 

* In the same work, the total number of deaths, in the year 1796, is 
stated at 19,228. (See Willan on the diseases of London, p. 58.) There 
must be an error, therefore, in the number given above ; but it does not 
affect the argument. 



192 VEGETABLE DIET 

two years of age, with many swellings of this kind, the appe- 
tite for animal food was so strong that the mother thought it 
right to check it. In a few, there was hardly any animal food 
given, probably from poverty. These children appeared 
healthy ; but in every case, except one, they had a consider- 
able thirst upon them. 

To those who think that animal food has the smallest |;en- 
dency to prevent the appearance of glandular swellings, I 
recommend the consideration of the following facts taken from 
the mouth of a patient of this institution, on whom I observed 
these glandular swellings on each side of the neck, and was 
informed that they existed also under the armpits, and in the 
groins. 

T. L., aged twenty-one, lived till he was fourteen years old 
with his father, the head servant or workman in the warehouse 
of a wholesale druggist. Being one of a large family living on 
servant's wages, their diet was principally vegetables ; the 
family had commonly some meat on Sundays, but scarcely on 
any other da3^ Their drink was chiefly water. Under 'this 
manner of life he was without disease, but was not a strong 
hearty boy. At fourteen he was put apprentice to a goldsmith. 
Here he had meat daily, as much as he chose, for dinner ; his 
drink was small beer, but he was allowed a little porter on 
Sundays. The consequence was that he improved considerably 
in strength and in appearance; and, as he expresses it, he 
thought himself becoming quite a hearty lad. This increased 
strength and apparently improved health lasted nearly two 
years. After that it began to decline. Though the diet con- 
tinued unchanged, the strength diminished ; and he is certain 
that, now at the age of twenty- one, he is not so strong as he 
was three years ago, at eighteen. He is not now able to raise 
weights which he could do then. 

Besides this, mark well the sequel. During the second year 
of his living on the fuller diet, while he was flattering himself 
that he enjoyed so much better health, these tumors above 
mentioned first appeared upon him. And they have continued 
ever since, nearly as they are at present. 

We see then, first, that though the strength may be increased 
by animal diet, yet the increased strength may not continue 
though the diet be continued. On the contrary, there is a sort 
of oscillation, the strength first rising and then sinking again. 
This is what is experienced by the trainers of boxers. A certr.in 
time is necessary to get these men into condition ; but this con- 
dition cannot be maintained for many weeks together, though the 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 193 

process by which it was formed is continued. The same 13 
found to hold in the training of race horses and fighting cocks. 
Increasing the strength, then, is no proof of salubrity of diet. 

Now let us suppose this young man had had these marks of 
scrofula upon him while he resided at home. It would most 
commonly have been ascribed to the poorness of his diet ; the 
appearance of increased health and strength upon a fuller course 
of living would have been brought in support of this opinion J 
and it would have been probably said that if he had had the 
benefit of a good dinner of animal food, daily, these marks of 
scrofula would not have appeared. The facts, however, are in 
direct opposition to this supposition ; for the signs of scrofula 
first appeared, as I have stated, when he was under the strong- 
est influence of the apparently beneficial change introduced by 
the animal food. 

With equal confidence has this writer enjoined the use of 
animal food to prevent consumption, as he would fain persuade 
us. He says, " In cases where habitual weakness or the history 
of the family gives reason to apprehend consumption, one of 
the most indispensable rules of preservation is to use animal 
food freely. There seems no limit to the quantity but the indi- 
cations fm'nished by the palate, and the power of the digestive 
organs. More should not be given, more will not be taken 
than is relished." One can hardly help staring with astonish- 
ment at seeing such directions as these ; when we see examples 
daily of young persons becoming consumptive who never went 
without animal food for a single day of their lives ; and consider 
that such is the constant habit of this country, where consump- 
tion destroys its thousands and tens of thousands. 

If the use of animal food were necessary in northern latitudes 
to prevent consumption, we should expect that where the peo- 
ple lived almost entii-ely upon such a diet, the disease would 
be unknown. Now the Indian tribes, visited by Mr. Hearne, live 
in this manner. They do not cultivate the earth. They subsist 
by hunting, and the scanty produce of spontaneous vegetation. 
But among these tribes consumption is common. Their dis- 
eases, Mr. Hearne informs us, are principally fluxes, scurvy, and 
consumption. But to return to my present subject. 

Scrofula, as aflecting the whole constitution, is to be con- 
sidered, probably, as a disease of organic power. If a bone ex- 
foliates, for example, or a membrane loses its proper structure, 
as the cornea of the eye, there was probably some original 
organic defect. But the more common phenomenon of glandu- 
lar swellings and suppurations is attributed, probably with jus- 
9 



194 VEGETABLE DIET 

ticc, to a vitiated state, or acrimony as it is called, of the lymph. 
It is to be considered that the lymph is not merely the exu- 
dation into the various cavities, which is reabsorbed, but the 
parts of the body which, being no longer fit to continue a part 
of the living system, are to be eliminated and thrown out of 
the body. The solid parts of the body must become fluid 
before they are absorbed and form part of the lymph. The 
lymph, therefore, must be considered in part as a dead, or at 
least, a dying part of the system ; and hence it may readily be 
conceived to acquire occasionally a degree of virulence or poi- 
sonous acrimony ; to be already, as it were, cadaverous, and 
therefore to be irritating to the parts through which it passes. 

If this be correct, tlie glandular Svvellings in scrofula are 
secondary symptoms. Indeed, we often see conjoined to the 
glandular swellings in the neck, scabs or sores upon the scalp ; 
and the thickness of the upper lip, and tumefaction and sore- 
ness of the nostrils, are so frequent as to be esteemed a common 
symptom of this disease. It is not improbable, therefore, that 
the glandular sv«^ellings always indicate some disease of the 
membranes, cavities, or other organs from which the lympha- 
tics originate. It is not impossible that, as we see a portion of 
bone perish and be thrown out of the system, so a membrane, 
or other soft part, may occasionally perish, and be regenerated ; 
it is possible that this process may take place without any ex- 
ternal signs of it, and that during such a process the lympha- 
tic glands may be irritated, tumefy, and suppurate. 

Upon such a theory of scrofula, as this view of the phe- 
nomena points to, there is no immediate connection as cause 
and effect between impure water and scrofula. Impure water 
does not directly cause the scrofula ; nor are we to suppose the 
glandular swellings to be occasioned by foreign matter passing 
through the glands imtating and inflaming them. But the 
putrescent matter of water acts on the scrofulous habit as upon 
others ; only the scrofulous habit appears to be more than com- 
monly irritable. This matter is a depressing power ; the tone 
of the body is diminished by its action ; the radical powers of 
the fibres are either destroyed or greatly impaired ; of many 
parts the structure is altered ; of others, the very substance is 
destroyed. But these processes are, in no circumstances, 
chemical processes, but universally vital processes. 

This connection has been so often asserted, that it cannot be 
doubted that it has been really remarked, that scrofulous dis- 
orders are abundant where the v ater is very impure. Dr. 
Beddoes has furnished us with two such authorities, which I 



iv r;!?to\;c diseases. 195 

shall c.o-pj. He PaY«, " Hard, selenitic, and calcareous waters 
have beeii given out by respectable observers for a cause of 
scrofula. M. de Luc, for instance (Lettres, I. 17), remarks, 
that where he has found incrusting or petrifying springs, there 
the people were scrofulous," The following passage is anony- 
mous : " Quod vere assertum, licet ad strumas potissimum ende- 
mias pertineat, nullus tamen dubito tales aquas etiam diatheseos 
scrofulosae evolutionem promovere, malumque augere posse. 
Gottingae scrofulse frequentissimae sunt ; aquae vero ibidem 
scaturientes calcareis particulis insigniter abundant." 

But though the facts be granted, there appears an error in 
the mode of conceiving the operation of impure water. As I 
have said, impure water does not cause scrofula specifically, but 
impure water excites and brings into action the diseased pro- 
pensities of the constitution, whatever they may be, which pro- 
pensities, but for the application of this morbific power, might 
have continued dormant and quiescent. 

These truths will, perhaps, be more evident by considering 
the particulars of the following case. I have already brought 
it forward as a proof of the quickness with which an ulcerated 
surface feels the substitution of pure to common water. The 
further contemplation of the phenomena enlarged, and, in a 
measure, corrected the opinions I had formed when I published 
the former facts concerning it. 



CASE XI. 

Scrofiilous Ulcer of the Arm. 



I HAVE noticed, at p. 170 of my "Reports on Cancer," a lad 
named John Milner, a miserable object from an inveterate scrof- 
ula. I have there described the case. I shall here, therefore, 
produce only some of the facts which appeared during the course 
of the treatment. 

This lad had a large ulcer on his arm. Under the regimen 
(which was undertaken October 19, 1808), on IS^vember 31st 
this ulcer ceased to discharge, and in a week or two more it 
cicatrized. But during the following year the cicatrix often 
gave way, the part became sore, and again discharged, and in 
a few days again healed. The same event took place in Feb- 
ruary, 1810, after which time the sore healed completely, and 



196 VEGETABLE DIET 

has since, I am informed, continued well. But though I attri- 
bute the very speedy drying up and cicatrization of the ulcer 
to the regimen, I cannot ascribe tlie complete cicatrization to it, 
as there were marks" of old cicatrices on his body. There may 
therefore have been power in the constitution finally to heal 
this ulcer. 

In this boy, the left ear was incrusted with a large scab, so as 
wholly to conceal the interior parts of it. In ten months the 
crust was removed, and the lower part of the ear came into 
view, and it appeared that the greatest part of the lobe had 
been destroyed. What remained appeared sound, being covered 
with newly formed skin. But this skin soon gave way, and the 
the crust or scab was renewed. In February, 1810, it again 
fell off, the ear again appeared sound, and so it continued. 

About the same time, all the diseased parts were in an im- 
proving and healing condition. The ulcerations on the left side 
of the face got quite well. One remained on the right side, 
which was skinning over, and the general improvement was vSO 
visible that the master of the workhouse expressed more than 
once his satisfaction at it. But a large portion of the skin re- 
maining preternaturally red, the appearance of the boy continued 
to be very unpleasant. And about this time I found that the 
boy was becoming inattentive to the rules which had been laid 
down for him. The master of the house told me of this circum- 
stance ; and the father of the lad, one of the rudest of the vul- 
gar, was discontented at the restraints imposed, and had deter- 
mined to put him a second time into St. Bartholomew's Hospital. 
Under these circumstances I thought it would be more instruc- 
tive to observe the case when it was again left to itself. He 
went into the hospital this spring. 

Here he underwent a mercurial course for a month, but with- 
out any change for the better or the worse. On his being re- 
turned to the workhouse, I certainly expected to observe the 
ulcer on the right cheek quickly becoming worse ; but I was in 
error, for the ulcer still continued in a healing state for five 
months at least, when it was very nearly well. All the other 
parts likewise, which had been diseased, continued sound and 
well. 

From this, ^ith several other analogous observations, which 
I do not think it necessary to relate, it appears how different is 
the agency of substances upon the living body from the action 
of inert matter, whether it be mechanical or chemical. The 
changes which are produced by mechanical or chemical agents 
are necessarily simultaneous, or immediately consequent upon 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 197 

the application of a new force or cause of change. But in the 
hving body no such coincidence can be traced ; the effects of a 
morbific cause remain long after the cause has ceased to be ap- 
phed ; and, in hke manner, the influence of an anti-morbific cause 
continues sensible long after it, likewise, has ceased to be ap- 
phed. 

In the case before us the fact appears to have been, that a 
more healthy regimen had strengthened and invigorated the 
powers of life. This increase of inherent power could only be 
destroyed gradually, by the application of the common morbific 
causes, to which the human system, under our common habits, 
is constantly exposed. Therefore, till this increase of power 
was totally destroyed, and the system brought down completely 
to its ordinary level, the effects of the more healthy regimen 
continued to be apparent. 

This ulcer then failed to give, what I was looking for, an 
ocular proof of the influence of the pure water. However, at 
the end of about five months it ceased to cicatrize, and began 
again to spread. But upon the left eye of this boy I obtained 
the proof I wished for. 

The eyelid of this eye, before the regimen was undertaken, 
was much distorted, being drawn at its outer angle downward 
and outward. While the regimen was observed, this deformity 
ceased, and the eyehd gained its proper position. But gradu- 
ally, after it had been abandoned, the deformity returned, and 
in about five or six months it was exactly as it had been at 
first. 

After this period I ceased to observe him. I have met him, 
accidentally, nearly in his former condition, as he remains at 
present, allowing for the difterence of years. 



CASE XII. 

Scrofulous Ulcers of the Neck. 



About the end of the year 1810, G. S., a boy about twelve 
years old, was recommended to me by the kindness of the late 
Dr. Garthshore. He had many glands, on each side of the 
neck, inflamed, ulcerated, and discharging an ichor. In one of 
them, in particular, was a hole large enough to put the end of 
a finger. The other ulcers were more superficial. 



198 VEGETABLE DIET 

This state of the glands appeared occasioned by a diseased 
state of the scalp, on which there were several sores and scabs. 
It extended in some measure to the eye and eyelids. More 
than once, about this period, they inflamed, and the eyelids 
tumefied so much as to close, for a time, the eyes. 

The regimen had upon this boy the same effect as on the last 
subject. The ulcers were quickly dried up, and they soon be- 
gan to cicatrize. In half a year, the boy was able to leave off 
all the coverings about his neck ; and all the ulcers were com- 
pletely healed, except that which had been so deep. In two 
or three more months, this became well also ; and nothing re- 
mained but a redness about the parts. The scabs, however, 
continued upon the scalp. They, no doubt, afterward came 
off, but when I cannot exactly say. 

This boy was very refractory, and discontented with the re- 
straints imposed upon him. At the end of the tvv'elvemonth, 
therefore, the regimen was given up. The boy, however, con- 
tinued well, as I saw, at least a year and a half after, since 
which time I have lost sight of him. 

Under these circumstances, it is probable that these ulcera- 
tions would have got well under common regimen. But it was 
evident that the cure was accelerated by the treatment. It 
can hardly be doubted that the disease of the glands was oc- 
casioned by the condition of the scalp ; and it could not have 
been expected that they would become sound, before the in- 
teguments had recovered. But the fact was otherwise. I 
would not, however, infer more from this case than, first, that 
it shows evidently the influence of the pure water on an ulce- 
rated surface ; and secondly, tliat a full diet of animal food and 
fermented liquors, which is commonly enjoined in such cases, 
is, to say the least, unnecessary. 

I cannot omit this opportunity of paying a small tribute of 
respect and gratitude to the memory of Dr. Garthshore. He 
was, at this time, the oldest member on the college list resi- 
dent in London. To me he was wholly unknown. At a time 
when I was struQ-o-lino- in vain to obtain a few cases suited to 
my object ; when, from the gentleman to Avhom I had shown 
the facts concerning cancer, I received, after the labor of years, 
a cold and reluctant, assent I cannot call it, but withholding 
of contradiction to the conclusions which were pressed upon 
me ; when another practitioner, a physician of great employ- 
ment, with whom I had lived from early life in fraternal famili- 
arity, preferred putting an end to an intimacy of five-and- 
twenty years to supplying me with a single pauper ; at thia 



IN CHRC VfC DISEASES. /9 

time, this upright, respectatle, and benevolent old ma^, came 
to me, sought my acquaintance, encouraged me to proceed in 
my inquiries ; told me how much the elder Heberden would 
have been pleased with them ; and promised me every assist- 
ance in his power. And he neglected no proper opportunity of 
furthering my views. The very last act of his life was an at- 
tempt (it proved an abortive one) to serve me ; and, as he be« 
lieved, by serving me, to promote the diffusion of useful know- 
ledge. Thus did he preserve to the last breath the principles 
which had guided him through life : urbanity, liberality, integ- 
rity, the love of truth, and an ardent desire to contribute to- 
ward the welfare of mankind, and diminish the mass of human 
misery. Such were the rules of his conduct and leading traits 
of his character. 

I am not without obligations to other individuals, which I 
may here, not improperly, acknowledge. Mr. Growther pro- 
cured me more than one case of cancer, Mr. Piatt, unsolicited, 
did the same thing. These cases were such as might have led 
to useful conclusions, had the patients themselves been tracta- 
ble. Dr. Latham, also, the present worthy president of the 
college of physicians, had the goodness to recommend to me a 
subject laboring under a disease of this kind ; but it was too far 
gone to afford any chance of rehef. 



CASE XIII. 

Remarks ou Cancer, with a Case. 



I FEEL it proper to premise a few remarks to the case which 
is next to be related. 

It has become less necessary for me to bring before the pub- 
lic many additional observations on this disease, as Mr, Aber- 
liethy has done me the justice to recommend the method of 
treatment I proposed to the trial of surgeons, to whose care 
these cases commonly devolve.* I have reason to believe that 

** The following is taken from Mr, Abernethy's Surgical Observations 
ou Tumors, p 93 : " There can be no subject which I think more likely 
to interest the mind of a surgeon than that of an endeavor to amend and 
aller the state of a cancerous constitution. The best timed and best con- 
ducted operation brings with it nothing but disgrace, if the diseased pro- 
pensities of the constitution are active and powerful. It is after an ope- 
ration that, in my opinion, we are most particularly incited to regulate 



200 VEGETABLE DIET 

it has been tried, under the inspection of competent judges, 
and therefore of this, as of every other proposal, time will 
ultimately decide the merits. At present, however, with regard 
to the experience of others I am very imperfectly informed, 

I do not wish to conceal, that the testimony which Mr. Aber- 
nethy gave to the accuracy of my statements (as far as he 
was concerned) was given at my own request. For it is a 
fact, that Mr. Abernethy was so struck with the effect of the 
distilled water, in the case of cancer that he put into my hands, 

the constitution, lest the disease should be revived or renewed by its dis- 
turbance. In addition to that attention to tranquiUize and invigorate the 
nervous system, and keep the digestive organs in as healthy a state as 
possible, which I have recommended in the first volume, I believe gene- 
ral experience sanctions the recommendation of a more vegetable, because 
less stimulating, diet, with the addition of so much milk, broth, and eggs 
as seem necessary to prevent any declension of the patient's strengtli. 

" Very recently, Dr. Lambe has proposed a method of treating cancer- 
ous diseases, which is wholly dietetic. He recommends the adoption of 
a strict vegetable regimen, to avoid the use of fermented liquors, and to 
substitute water, purified by distillation, in the place of common water 
used as a beverage, and in all articles of diet in which common water is 
used, as tea, soups, etc. The grounds upon which he founds his opinion 
of the propriety of this advice, and the prospects of benefit which it holds 
out, may be seen in his * Reports on Cancer,' to which I refer my readers. 

" My own experience on the elFects of this regimen is of course very 
limited, nor does it authorize me to speak decidedly on the subject. But 
I think it right to observe, that in one case of carcinomatous ulceration in 
which it was used, the symptoms of the disease were, in my opinion, 
rendered more mild, the erysipelatous inflammation, surrounding the 
ulcer, was removed, and the life of the patient was, in my judgment, 
considerably prolonged. The more minute details of the fact constitute 
fhe sixth case of Dr. Lambe's Reports. 

" It seems to me veiy proper and desirable that the powers of the regi- 
men recommended by Dr. Lambe should be fairly tried, for the following 
reasons : 

" 1st. Because I know some persons who, while confined to such diet, 
have enjoyed very good health ; and I have further known several per- 
sons, who did try the effects of such a regimen, declare that it was pro- 
ductive of considerable benefit. They were not indeed affected with 
cancer, but they were induced to adopt a change of diet to allay a state 
of nervous irritation, and correct disorders of the digestive organs, upon 
which medicine had but little influence. 

" 2dly. Because it appears certain, that in general the body can be per- 
fectly nourished by vegetables. 

" 3dly. It seems sufficiently ascertained, that diseases have in some 
persons been excited by water, and therefore it is desirable that what- 
ever is used should be made as pure as possible. 

" 4thly. Because all great changes of constitution are more likely to be 
effected by alterations of diet and modes of life than by medicine. 

"5thly. Because it holds out a source of hope and consolation to the 
patient, in a disease where medicine is known to be unavailing, and sur- 
gery affords no raoro than a temporary relief." 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 201 

that he made upon it this pointed and remarkable declaration : 
** I cannot be insensible," he said, *' to the effect of this treat- 
ment. Whether it will cure the disease or not, I cannot tell ; 
but I can have no doubt but that it will prevent it." 

Mr. Abernethy, in consequence of what he saw, ordered the 
distilled water, at this time, in some other cases. One was a 
case of cancer of the rectum. It was a desperate case, in the 
very last stage of the disease ; and the patient soon died. But 
the sufferer declared that it gave him much ease, and that it 
was the only thing from which he had appeared to receive 
benefit. This declaration, or something tantamount to it, 
Mr. Abernethy told me, with the addition, *' that he should at 
all times be willing to acknowledge it." 

This leads me to mention the circumstances, which induced 
me to be more sanguine with regard to the hoped-for result of 
cases, that were very far gone, than was justifiable by the 
event. I do this the more willingly, in order to guard others 
against a similar sort of deception, w^hich will certainly occur 
aoTiin, under the same circumstances. What I allude to is as 
follows : 

In cases where the vital powers are greatly reduced, the 
evident change induced b}^ a change of regimen, and the ap- 
parent advantage of such a change, is incalculably greater 
than where the vital powders are more perfect, and where, 
consequently, the immediate danger of the patient is much 
less. This fact has appeared in a great variety of examples. 
I will cite a few that w^ere remarkable. 

In a case of carcinoma of the mamma, a middle-aged woman 
adopted the regimen ; and the consequence was, that the pain, 
which had been constant and severe for many months, w^as re- 
lieved, and almost removed in one fortnight. Such a circum- 
stance could not but cause great delight, and excite hopes 
that much good might be done in a short time. But these 
hopes proved fallacious. The woman died in less than six 
months ; being cut off, as I judged from correspondence, by a 
peripneumonic afltection. 

Another woman, laboring under ancites, received great, and 
almost instantaneous, benefit from the regimen. The abdomen 
began quickly to diminish in bulk, and for more than three 
months she appeared to improve in health daily. But then the 
benefit ceased, new symptoms supervened, and in less than an- 
other month she died. 

A little boy of about four years of age, who was epileptic, 
was made to try the same plan of diet. The effect was highly 



202 VEGETABLE DIET 

pleasing, and even astonishing. After the course of a fortnight 
the convulsions wholly ceased ; and the head, over which he 
had appeared to have lost the power, became in a great mea- 
sure upright. But he continued very stupid, with the sensibil- 
ity so much impaired, that he seemed scarcely to be impressed 
even by fire applied to the skin. ' In about two or three months 
the lower limbs became dropsical, the strength failed, and the 
child soon died. 

These, and several other similar events, have instructed us 
how little dependence is to be placed on the first changes, 
however imposing they may be ; they soon showed that these 
sudden changes denote a great diminution of the powers of life, 
and would not have taken place had the powers been perfect. 
In fact, the cases which have ultimately succeeded the best, 
have been those in which the least benefit has been received 
suddenly ; and from the repeated observation of such facts, I 
am now much better contented to be told, in a bad case, that 
little or no relief has been received, it may be, in several months, 
than the contrary. 

I have no doubt that the observation which caused the ac- 
knowledgment, which Mr. Abernethy made to me, was similar 
to tliose I have just mentioned. These declarations were made 
in the year 1805 ; and I was therefore not precipitate in ex- 
pecting that, when Mr. Abernethy was publishing on the sub- 
ject of cancer in 1811, he should take the opportunity of ac- 
knowledging that in the statement of facts to which he had 
been a witness I had been scrupulously observant of the truth. 
In that interval, the defect of the original proposal had been 
detected, and sufficient time had elapsed to have tried the 
power of the regimen, and to have ascertained in a good mea- 
sure what it would really effect. 

But though the recommendation which Mr. Abernethy gave 
was at my suggestion and request, he alone is answerable for 
the terms in which it was given. In particular, when he says, 
" It is after an operation that we are more particularly incited 
to regulate the constitution," it is what I can by no means as- 
sent to. But more of this presently. 

Mr. Abernethy says also on this subject : *' I believe general 
experience sanctions the recommendation of a more vegetable, 
because less stimulating diet, with the addition of so much milk, 
broth, and eggs as seem necessary to prevent any declension 
of the patient's strength." On such a subject, Mr. Abernethy is, 
of course, much better informed than myself. But he certainly 
never informed me of this general experience ; nor did I, dur- 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 203 

ing my attendance on the case whicli Mr. Abernethy put into 
my hands, receive from him the shghtest hint of such an opi- 
nion. No traces of such an opinion are to be found in Mr. 
Abernethy's works, previously pubhshed ; not even in the 
second edition of his treatise *' On the Constitutional Origin and 
Treatment of Local Diseases," published in 1809, when he had 
seen the progress of the case we attended. 

Nor was a diet of this kind recommended generally in cases 
of cancer even by Mr. Abernethy himself, previous to the pub- 
lication of my " Reports." In proof of this I can say, the lady 
whom we attended was eating animal food, commonly twice a 
day, under the mistaken notion of supporting the strength, be- 
fore it was resolved, at my suggestion, to change her diet in 
February, 1806. This was under Mr. Abernethy 's own eye. 
I do not say it was done by his advice. He, I believe, never 
inquired into, nor gave any directions on the subject. I will 
further say that, had it not been for my strenuous application, 
this recommendation would not have been given, even in the 
place in which it has appeared. 

I do not doubt, however, that it is the practice of the best 
surgeons to order a mild diet in these diseases. I have already 
cited the authority of Mr. Benjamin Bell to this point. Other 
writers have likewise recommended such a regimen, " We 
moderate," says one, " the effects of cancer in every stage by 
an antiphlogistic diet." Another writer says, " In the mean 
time, the patient should live abstemiously, avoiding animal food, 
wines, spirits, and fermented liquors, as heating, stimulating, 
and tending to increase pain ; a milk and vegetable diet, there- 
fore, in such cases, is the most proper." In a passage of 
Cheselden's anatomy, cited in the posthumous work of Mr. 
John Howard, it is said : " In desperate cases where we can- 
not extirpate, we find the best remedy is plentiful bleeding 
(which also is Nature's last resort), gentle constant evacuations 
by stool, and a vegetable diet." And in this work of Mr. 
Howard's is the following passage : " Except when a stimulus 
is required, in chlorosis, the diet in cases where there is a can- 
cerous tendency cannot be too strictly cooling. If it consisted 
wholly of vegetables, farinaceous substances, and milk, many 
lives might be saved, or at least prolonged ; but, on the con- 
trary, the majority of patients in this predicament have an un- 
natural r.ppetite for luxurious eating, and this exasperates the 
disease." 

But notwithstanding this concurrence of opinion of respect- 
able writers, I am afraid that it is not true that it is any thing 



204 VEGETABLE DIET 

like the common practice of surgeons in general to recommend 
even such a diet, as Mr. Abernethy has said is " sanctioned by- 
general experience." I could, if necessary, bring the direct 
proof of the contrary, but I am restrained from motives which 
are very obvious. 

Nor indeed is this wonderful, when we consider how trifling 
is the relief which such a diet can be thought to afford. It is 
very doubtful whether it would give any relief to the pain 
which forms so distressing a feature of the disease. It is quite 
certain that the strictest vegetable regimen, unaided by ^ther 
attention, will not prevent the formation of a carcinomatous 
tumor, nor its regular progressive increase, nor its final ulcera- 
tion. It is not surprising, then, that patients should be unwill- 
ing to submit to restraints which appear to them to produce 
little or no advantage. That the disease goes through its 
stages in the usual manner, while the patient is confined to 
vegetables, may be safely inferred from the silence of writers 
who, had the contrary been the case, could not have failed to 
inform us of it. 

Indeed, I have myself had ocular proof of the fact. In the 

spring of 1810, I saw Mrs. M , the wife of a tradesman 

living: near Westminster Bridsfe, laborino; under a laroje ulcer- 
ated cancer, with the breath much oppressed, as is usual m 
the last stages of the disease. This woman had lived almost 
entirel}^ upon vegetable diet her whole life. She had an aver- 
sion to animal food. She would take a little fish sometimes, 
but very rarely. Her own account was to the foUoAving pur- 
port. " When I lived in the country, I was very healthy ; but 
as soon as I began to drink the Thames water my health began 
to fail, and I have not been in good health since." I am 
obliged to Dr. Richard Reece, for introducing me to this pa- 
tient, and he saw her with me. I think it right to add, in fa- 
vor of her vegetable regimen, that I never saw more placidness, 
cheerfulness, and resignation under the appearance of so much 
suffering. 

Mr. Abernethy's luminous description of this disease leaves 
nothing to be desired with regard to its general history. I 
could have wished that he had spoken with more decision on 
the most important feature of the disease — the manner in which 
It spreads. The facts which I showed him throw much light 
on this point, but they require to be verified and multiplied. 
Mr. Abernethy cites the doctrine of Mr. Hunter, with apparent 
approbation : ** That a disposition to cancer exists in the sur- 
rounding parts, prior to the actual occurrence of the diseased 



IN CHR©NIC DISEASES. 205 

action. This remark, which is verified by daily expenence, led 
to th^; following rule in practice — That a sui'geon ought not to be 
contented with removing merely the indurated or actually dis- 
eased part, but that he should also take away some portion of 
the surrounding substances, in which a diseased disposition may 
probably have been excited." 

If the disease be propagated by contamination, a part, which 
is tainted, communicating disease to the parts in contact with 
it, this practice must be injudicious. But if the spreading of 
the disease be from internal causes, foreign to the part itself, it 
is equally clear that this removal of the parts, to whatever ex- 
tent it be carried, cannot prevent the recurrence of the disease. 
Let us attend then to the evidence of a most impartial and up- 
right observer, who has left us among others the following 
history. 

" A lady, between fifty and sixty, the wife of a surgeon, of a 
melancholic temperament, lusty, using little exercise, r.nd living 
luxurioush^ felt pain, and perceived a small degree of hardness 
in one breast. The whole breast was taken off, within a fort- 
night after it was first noticed. Upon examination after re- 
moval, there was neither extravasation nor glandular indura- 
tion, but a thickening and a hardness of what seemed to be 
more like condensed diseased cellular membrane than any 
thing else to which I could compare it. The axillary glands 
were not affected, nor was the tumor of great size, and it was 
perfectly movable. 

"If, in this case, the indurated part only had been removed, 
without taking away the whole of the mamma, I should not 
have wondered at a relapse ; but when the operator went clearly 
beyond the apparent extent of the disease in every direction — 
when he dissected the whole from the pectoral muscle, so as 
to leave the fibres of that muscle bare, and that too at an early 
period of the disease — I say, when all these circumstances were 
considered, it was matter of astonishment to me that the un- 
fortunate sufferer did not obtain a cure. But the fact was 
otherwise," 

This is not a solitary example. In the same work in which 
the writer appears to have recorded the experience of his life, 
are nine or ten other cases, in which the disease repullulated 
after operations. This circumstance is inexplicable on the hy- 
pothesis of the unsound parts contaminating the sound. But 
they occasion no difficulty, if we suppose (as I have done) the 
progress of the disease to be from internal causes. Is it not 
indeed revolting to common sense to suppose tliat cutting oft' 



206 VEGETABLE DIET 

the breast can counteract the effect of luxurious living ? This 
would be truly a matter of astonishment. 

This fact is of itself enough to make us doubt "whether this 
disease be propagated by cont?mination, which is the most 
common doctrine of surgeons. The belief in this doctrine it is 
which makes them so anxious to remove every particle of a 
diseased breast, in which any degree of hardness is perceptible. 
And the almost uniform failure of the operation was, for a time, 
often attributed to a defect in this respect. I suppose, how- 
ever, that, at present, very few are disposed to maintain this 
opinion. 

On the mode in which the disease is propagated there may 
be three distinct hypotheses proposed. 1st. It may be sup- 
posed that there is a poison generated in the part, which, being 
absorbed, infects the constitution. This may be true in part, 
but cannot be so entirely ; for in that case excision would be a 
radical cure. 2d. The diseased part may be thought to injure 
the neighboring parts by simple contact, the diseased part 
being a sort of focus or centre of diseased action. This is cer- 
tainly the prevailing opinion of surgeons ; but it is as little 
tenable as the first hypothesis. 3d. All the phenomena may 
be thought to be the effect of internal causes, remote from the 
part itself, and common to this with other chronic diseases. If 
tills be true, these causes, being common causeg, there can be 
no specific poison of cancer. And such I conceive to be the 
truth, and to afford a just explanation of the symptoms of the 
disease. I must leave the proofs of it to the judgment of 
others. 

We are constantly deluded by language. We say a person 
dies of a cancer ; which is just as true as when we say that the 
sun rises in the east and sets in the west. The truth must be 
that a person dies of the causes of cancer ; and the cancer is 
not the cause, but the mode of dying. 

Mr. Howard has, in so many words, maintained the same 
doctrine as myself, that there is no specific poison of cancer. 
He says, " If the cause of some cancers be a virus, I suspect it 
is not, strictly speaking, sui generis, as the small-pox, but an 
affection of the elephantiasis kind." 

But I not only coincide with the doctrine of Mr. Hunter, that 
there is a morbid change in the parts in which there is no mani- 
fest chanore of structure, but contend that this chano-e is the 
very essence of the disease ; and that upon this, as upon a foun- 
dation, the whole superstructure of morbid action is built. I 
have already cited in favor of this doctrine, the phenomenon in 



N CHRONIC DISEASES. 207 

Case II. of my '' Reports," in which, under the regimen, one 
mamma apparently sound perished by absorption, while the 
other was in a state of ulceration. I therefore not only say, 
with Mr, Hunter, that there is a morbid change in the parts 
surrounding the tumor, but in distant parts also, not contiguous 
to any tumor. This may be called, if it be thought right, dis- 
position.* 

The phenomena of carcinoma of the eye illustrates this fully. 
" When the fungus hsematodes," — which is I presume another 
name for carcinoma — " takes place in children, they are gene- 
rally found to have entirely lost the affected eye, before it is 
i-eraarked by the parents." This is the evidence of Mr. War- 
drop. To the same purpose Mr. Ware says, " that in the be- 
ginning of carcinoma of the eye in adults, the sight is lost, and 
llie disease at first seems simply a gutta serena, without pain 
or discoloration." Thus it is clear that the first staoje of the 
disease is a loss of power of the simple fibre, or radical struc- 
ture of the part affected ; and (as I have said) upon this the 
change of organization is built. 

Removing the parts, then, in which this diseased disposition 
is supposed to exist, does not secure the patient from a return 
of the disease, nor does it form any solid justification of this 
operation. " If after the removal of cancer," says Mr. Aber- 
nethy, " when the operation has been properly performed, the 
cicatrix remains healthy for five or six years, or even for a 

* By disposition to disease as contra-distinguished to action, must be 
meant the state of the fibres previous to any change that is obvious to the 
senses. Mr. Hunter, I believe, was the first -who used this language, and 
insisted on these different conditions of diseased parts. He argued, par- 
ticularly with regard to syphilis, that we were able, by the application 
of the specific, to cure the action, but not the disposition. This doctrine 
seems the offspring of the spirit of generalization, carried too far. It 
seems impossible to lay down any general rule on this subject; but many 
facts show that the one laid down by Mr. Hunter cannot be correct in its 
full extent. A single course of mercury often radically cures syphilis. 
It is probable, in all such examples, that some parts were only disposed 
to disease, while others had taken on diseased action. But further, where 
there has been an obvious infection, and the parts have got well by the 
power of the specific, sores have broken out even on parts that were not 
infected, which, by their habit and history under treatment, have proved 
not to be syphilitic. See Hunter on the Venereal Disease, p. 247, second 
edition. The only rational account that can be given of this is, that these 
parts have been contaminated, that is to say, in Mr, Hunter's language, 
disposed to disease; that the syphilitic taint had been cured by the mer- 
curial course; but that the parts had been so injured in powers, that they 
ulcerate, and are gradually thrown out of the system. Here then we 
a[)pear to have evidence that the disposition can be cured as well as the 
action. In other cases, no doubt, Mr. Hunter's doctrine is correct. 



208 VEGETABLE DIET 

shorter period, and becomes indurated and carcinomatous, etc." 
Mr. Abernethy, of course, would not have mentioned such 
results, as the consequences of the operation, unless he had 
seen facts to warrant the assertion. But it is certain, that the 
** cicatrix remaining healthy for five or six years," must be a 
very rare occurrence. Half a year, a year, or two years is the 
more common interval. Even two years is a long period. But 
granting that a patient has continued well six years, it proves 
nothing in behalf of this operation. I have seen myself, within 
these last four years, a woman with a cancerous mamma, in 
whom the disorder had continued eight years. The whole 
breast was a hard lump, the skin was reddened and adherent, 
but it never ulcerated, and the woman died with little suffering, 
complaining principally of breathlessness upon going up stairs. 
Here then was a slow proceeding case, of which the result 
showed that no advantage would have been gained by oper- 
ating. 

In another case the disease went through all its stages, from 
a small knot, no larger than a pea, to the death of the patient, 
in fifteen or sixteen months. 

The only ground of justification of this operation is, that it 
saves the patient the misery of an ulcerated cancer. This, un- 
doubtedly, is an ample justification of the practice, as it has 
hitherto been established in surgery. If it has afforded so for- 
tunate a result only every second, third, or fourth time, it may 
have been right to give the patient the chance. But I have 
every reason to believe that the peculiar regimen, which I pro- 
posed for this disease, will, if adopted in time, prevent this hor- 
rible, ulcerating, self-destroying process. Of course, with ex- 
perience so limited as that which I possess, I should not be 
justified in making general assertions. Cancer, like all other 
diseases, is subject to infinite variety of forms. In certain 
states, either of constitution or of age, it must be, at all 
times, hopeless. Other subjects may be relatively favorable. 
According to my best judgment, the subject of the following 
relation presented a specimen of the disease, which was perfect 
in kind, and which might be said to hold a middle rank as to 
malignity, and which, had the disease been allowed to follow 
its common course, would have terminated, as they invariably 
do, probably before the present period. 

January 16, 1815. — A lady, now in her forty-fifth year, re- 
quested me to examine her right breast, in the mon+h of Jan- 
uary, 1810. She was, in appearance, healthy, with a fine 
color, and fleshy, without being grossly corpulent. She told 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 209 

me that this breast had been uneasy from the age of fourteen. 
She was the mother of many children, some still very young, 
and had nursed them ; but suckling with this breast had always 
given a good deal of pain. Now, for six months, she had suf- 
fered very severe pain, in one spot, about the centre of the 
breast, but below the nipple. On this point she could place 
her hand, and was sensible of a degree of thickening and en- 
largement. The pain was so severe as to deprive her much of 
rest. She could not raise her arm to her head, nor put it be- 
hind her to adjust her dress, with convenience, nor wiUiout 
aggravating the pain. Lying on the affected side at night also 
much aggravated the pain, and, indeed, was not tolerable. 

Upon examination, I found the disease so deeply seated, and 
the subject so large, that I could determine nothing but a 
general thickening about the seat of the complaint. But the 
whole breast had not the soft, pliant, and healthy feel of 
the sound one. It was more flaccid, and, at the same time, 
stringy. A slight degree of handling, also, gave much un- 
easiness. 

Though this lady looked in health, it was, however, by no 
means the case. The respiration was not strong, and she was 
not equal to taking her former exercise. The legs were dis- 
posed to swell. She was troubled with spasmodic pains of 
the stomach ; often repeatedly in the course of the day ; and 
every third or fourth month she had more serious attacks, 
seated in the organs of digestion ; but which, having never seen 
her under them, I cannot more particularly describe. The 
bowels were habitually bound. She had also been considera- 
bly troubled, for a twelvemonth, with humors (as they are 
termed) affecting various parts of the body. The most trou- 
blesome was a thin and acrid defluxion from behind both ears. 
She described, on one occasion, the state of the sensorium 
very expressively, though the sensation was such as is never 
experienced, and cannot, therefore, be clearly conveyed to a 
healthy person. She felt, she said, sometimes, as if she was 
out of herself 

This lady began the regimen in the above month of January, 
1810. During this year, herself and her friends were sensible 
that her general health improved. The bowels became open 
without medicine, and the spirits rather improved. But there 
was no change in the local disease. She thought rather that 
it got worse, instead of better. All the other affections con- 
tinued unabated. However, the improvement of her strength 
encouraged her to persevere. 



210 VEGETABLE DIET 

But during tne second year, 1811, the pain very sensibly 
diminished ; it no longer appeared to be spreading, and the 
disease to be becoming deeper ; but, on the contrary, the dis- 
eased part seemed to be looser, and the pain to be confined 
more entirely to the part affected. The sores behind the ears 
dried up. But the eyes became sore ; the diseased action 
appearing to be transferred to these parts. The general state 
of health was far from good ; but now, her encouragement to 
proceed was from the manifest soothing of the disease of the 
breast. 

The year 1812 was passed nearly in the same manner: the 
pain in the breast was not gone,' but it was much diminished. 
The diseased breast was quiet, and the health improved. At 
this time she became pregnant ; and toward the end of the 
year was safely dehvered. She attempted to suckle her in- 
fant. The attempt, however, caused so much pain in the dis- 
eased breast, that, in the same circumstances, I would not 
again advise it to be made. At this time, a redness came on 
the surface of the breast, over the diseased part. The infant 
did not live many weeks. Some time after its death, the 
breast again became easy ; more so, indeed, as she said, than 
it had been for years. 

About this time, I again examined it. I readily now found 
a tumor, and of considerable magnitude, I think of the size 
of a walnut. 

In October, 1813, she had a kind of irregular gout. The 
wrists and hands swelled, with some pain, but without redness. 
At this time she was considerably indisposed ; but not for any 
length of time. 

In November, of the same year, a few pimples appeared 
on the skin of the diseased breast. But they did not continue 
permanent. There was still pain, but of no severity. The 
general health continued good. 

And, at this time, after a lapse of fourteen months, she still 
complains of pain in the part. I examined it about Christmas, 
1814, and felt a small thickening, now in the part of the gland 
above the nipple, and nearer the sternum. But the whole 
mamma was soft, without tumefaction, inflammation, or any 
injury of the skin. The pain is enough to give her uneasiness ; 
but not enough to derange the health, materially to encroach 
on the sleep, nor to impede any of the functions of life. The 
general health is so good that no one would take her to be an 
invalid. It is quite as good, if not, indeed, better, than it was 
in 1810. She is, in the countenance, a little more contracted, 



IN CaRONIC DISEASES. 211 

tnan at that tim-e, but not materially so ; and is thinner, but 
■without any emaciation. 

As to what has taken place in the gland itself, it is obviously 
difficult to speak positively. I do not believe, however, that the 
thickening which I felt at the close of last year, 1814, is the 
same as the tumor I felt about two years before, nor still that 
that tumor- was the same as the thickening which was the seat 
of the pain in 1810. The situation of the uneasiness was con- 
siderably different at each examination. There have been times 
during which the breast has been almost entirely easy, after 
which the pain again increased. It appears probable, there- 
foi-e, that the different parts of the gland, in which there was a 
diseased disposition, have taken on diseased action successively, 
and that each successive induration has resolved. On this point, 
however, I would not speak decisively. 

It is necessary, now, to review the principal circumstances of 
this case. 

1st. This disease was carcinoma. Its history, both as a local 
and as a constitutional disease, proves this. The previous un- 
easiness of the part, the tumor, the severity of the pains, the 
extreme tenderness to handling, and the obstinacy of the dis- 
ease, now continued for a series of years, all conspire in forcing 
this conclusion. We must suppose that active disease took place 
in this breast, in the course of the year 1809, when the pain 
became so severe as to disturb the rest, and impede the motion 
of the arm. The constitutional affections, the derangement of 
the organs of digestion, the tendency to anasarcous swelling, 
the state of the sensorium, are equally convincing as to the 
nature of the disease. 

2d. I am equally satisfied that at this time, after a course of 
five years' attention to this regimen, the disease continues to be 
truly carcinomatous. The pain, the tumor, and the highly irri- 
table state of the part to handling prove this to be the case. 
It cannot therefore be said that the disease is cured. 

3d. But by the regimen life itself has been probably pre- 
served. Five years is more than, upon an av^erage, such a case 
could be expected to last. But under this regimen that period 
has elapsed, and the health is as good, or better, than when it 
was entered upon. 

4th. Tlie gland has been preserved. 'It continues uninjured, 
of its natural form and appearance, wnth no other complaint 
than a trifling induration, not readily discoverable by exami- 
nation. 

6th. It is a consequence of this, but which from the impor- 



212 VEGETAI?LE DIET 

tance of the fact desei'ves to be particularly noticed, that in 
this case the ulcerative process has been wholly and completely 
superseded. 

Such have been the facts of this case ; facts which I must 
be permitted to say fully corroborate all the conclusions which 
I formerly drew regarding this disease. I must refer, therefore, 
those to whom these conclusions are unknown to my " Reports." 
They are, in fact, very nearly the same appearances which took 
place during the long attendance, from May, 1805, to October, 
1808, in conjunction with Mr. Abernethy, on the case which he 
put into my hands, due allowance being made for the different 
stages at which the cases were taken up. In that there Avas no 
fresh ulceration for three years and five months ; and we may 
assert, therefore, confidently, that there too the ulcerative pro- 
cess was superseded.* This, I say, was seen by Mr. Abernethy 
so long ago as the years 1805 and 1806. 

The event of this case takes away the last apology for the 
most severe, not to say shocking operation, of which the un- 
happy subjects of this disease have been, from time immemo- 
morial, the objects. I therefore cannot but be surprised that 
that gentleman, having seen the ulcerative process superseded 
in that case, should say, " It is after an operation that, in my 
opinion, we are most particularly incited to regulate the consti- 
tution, lest the disease should be revived or renewed by its dis- 
turbance." But this writer has informed us, " That he has 
known a patient die soon after an operation for the removal of 
a cancerous tumor of no great magnitude, merely in consequence 
of the shock imparted to the constitution by the operation." 
Common sense, therefore, seems to dictate that the constitution 
should, if possible, be improved previous to any operation, and 
to enable the patient to sustain it. 

It is quite evident, that if the diseased part be removed, we 
can never feel perfectly convinced that the nature of the disease 
lias not been mistaken. As it is properly observed by Mr. 
Abernethy, it is more from the history and progress of the com- 
plaint that its nature becomes evident, than from any thing that 
is obvious to the senses. Had this lady submitted to an ope- 
ration several years ago, which I have no doubt would have 
been proposed by the surgeons, it is impossible that there could 
have been that sort ofr proof of the nature and progress of the 
disease which it has now afforded us. 

* A few small ulcerations formed upon one part, at the expiration of 
eleven months, but they soon healed, and continued well to the end. — • 
See the " Reports on Cancer," p. 102. 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 213 

T would ask on this subject one very plain question. If a 
medicine were proposed as a cure for a cancerous tumor, would 
any one think, as a previous step to a trial of its powers, of first 
cutting off the diseased part ? would not the proposal of such 
a step be deemed even ridiculous ? why then should not the 
power of regimen, which Mr. Abernethy has acknowledged to 
be more likely to affect such a disease than medicine, be treated 
with equal fairness ? 

I have only to add that the beneficial effects of this regimen 
in scirrhous tumors of the mammae have been distinctly acknow- 
ledged by a surgeon of a pubhc institution. In one of the medi- 
cal journals, of the year 1809, was a communication on this 
subject, of which the folio wmg is an extract: 

" In scirrhous tumors, where the patient's stamina is good, 
and particularly where the uterine secretion is regular, the vege- 
table diet and distilled water have proved very beneficial. The 
good effects of Dr. Lambe's treatment depend entirely on the 
natural stamina of the patient." 

I entirely coincide with this writer on this point. He has signed 
himself '^A Dispensary Surgeon^ I am sorry to say that the 
author of this communication, which carries with it strong in- 
ternal marks of correct observation, should have thought it 
proper to assume the mask of an anonymous signature, by which 
the weicfht T.hich would have been attached to his evidence is 
considerably diminished. 



CASE XIV. 

Rheumatism. — A Case. 



January 20, 1815. — I relate the circumstances of the follow- 
ing case rather to show the changes which are introduced into 
the habit, by the regimen, than as an example of relief from 
severe disease. 

A lady, now near forty years old, was induced to adopt this 
regimen between four and five years ago. She had no disease 
upon her, but was not in a firm state of health. The respira- 
tion was weak ; she was not able to take a full inspiration. 
The habit was relaxed and languid ; the pulse feeble and slug- 
gish ; she was always chilly, and the skin was cold and damp. 
The feet were always .cold. 

I mention these circumstances, because they are what are 



214 VEGETABLE DIET 

called signs of a languid circulation, and are thought particu- 
larly to require stimulating food and fermented liquors to sup- 
port, as they say, the system. Accordingly, this lady herself 
was under the influence of a strong prejudice, that an opposite 
system could not possibly agree with her. 

And, indeed, for several months, the change was very irk- 
some. She felt as if she h?id nothing in her stomach, and had 
a strong craving for animal food. But except uneasy sensa- 
tion, the change was attended with no bad consequence, nor 
serious mischief of an}'' sort. Gradually, also, the uneasiness 
subsided, and ultimately wore off entirely. The craving appe- 
tite for animal food was also wholly subdued. 

And the same amendment of the general health was found 
to take place in this, as has been experienced in other cases. 
And it was found here that under the vegetable regimen the 
habit became, instead of cold and chilly, to be hot and fever- 
ish. This cannot certainly be supposed to be the direct efl:ect 
of the vegetable diet, but must have arisen from the state of 
the system at the time at which it was adopted. The respira- 
tion has become strengthened ; and all the signs of languid cir- 
culation, particularly the cold feet, and the coldness and damp- 
ness of the skin, were removed. She sleeps much more soundly 
than formerly ; and upon the whole, the general health is bet- 
ter, and the habit much strengthened. 

She is much less susceptible of injury from cold than for- 
merly. She was so tender that she dreaded a breath of cold 
air blowing upon her. Such accidents she can now bear with- 
out injury or apprehension. 

She was able in the third year of the use of this regimen to 
suckle an infant nearly twelve months. This is the fourth ex- 
ample of this kind which has occurred to myself. Twice it has 
happened in the family of Mr. Newton, and once in a patient 
of mine in an humble walk of life. I have heard, too, of some 
other instances of it. 

This lady had no fixed disease upon her ; but she had fre- 
quent indispositions. For five or six years she had been 
troubled with severe rheumatic pains of the face, regularly 
attacking her in the months of March and April, and lasting 
six weeks or two months. These attacks have wholly ceased. 
But during the second year, she was troubled with an inflam- 
mation of the eyelids, from which there was an abundant thin 
and acrid defluxion, which continued some months. This dis- 
ease appeared to be a species of substitute for tha rheumatic 
pain. 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 215 



CASE XV. 

Polypus of the Nose, with Numbness of the Limbs, Giddiness, and 
Oppression of the Head, 

January 20, 1815. — I have obtained the particulars of the 
following case from correspondence, the result of which appears 
very satisfactory. 

A lady, now near forty years of age, married, and a mother; 
had been troubled from a very early period of her life with s 
stoppage of the left nostril, which was found, when she was 
eleven or twelve years old, to proceed from a polypus. The 
nostril of that side was habitually enlarged. There was an 
habitual discharge from the part, which had occasionally been 
violent ; but it was unattended with pain, or other inconveni- 
ence, except that she was obliged commonly to breathe with 
the mouth open. 

This lady was of a full habit of body, high colored, and with the 
strength good, being able to walk several miles, but was liable to 
numbness of the limbs, the legs and arms frequently becoming 
torpid, or what is usually called falling asleep. The head felt 
often oppressed, and she was affected with dizziness, and sing- 
ing of the ears when she stooped. At times she was extremely 
irritable and nervous. She had been informed that such dis- 
eases of the nose occasionally become cancerous, on which 
account she was very willing to adopt any plan that should be 
thought right to avert such a calamity. 

What reason there was for such an apprehension I will not 
venture to pronounce. But the uncomfortable feelings which 
this lady described, justified an attempt to remove them, and I 
therefore advised her to adopt the regimen. This she com- 
plied with in the very beginning of the year 1812. I heard of 
the consequence of the change very lately, of which she speaks 
in terms of the greatest satisfaction. Her account is in the fol- 
lowing terms : " On the receipt of your answer to my letter, I 
have strictly confined myself to the mode of diet you pre- 
scribed, and I have taken no medicine whatever. I can now 
with the greatest truth assure you, that in every way my health 
is materially improved ; my spirits are more equal ; the confused 
feel I formerly experienced in my head is very much better ; 
the distressing drowsiness which frequently overpowered me 
is quite gone, and the equally disagreeable numbness and tor- 
por in my hmbs is quite gone also. I used likewise frequently 



216 VEGETABLE DIET 

to have the nightmare, which I do not recollect to have felt 
for two years past. I have also the pleasure to tell you that 
my nose is more comfortable than formerly ; for though I 
never had any pain in it, there was often a very distressing 
sense of fullness and heat, which I do not feel now, and the 
discharge is less. I also breathe much more freely through 
my nose than I used to do." 



CASE XVI. 

Miscellaneous. 
FROM A CORRESPONDENT. 



Dear Sir, 

I am happy to be able, in compliance with your request, to 
state some of the particulars relative to my observations and 
experiments about vegetable diet : they are, in my opinion, very 
insignificant and useless ; but if you think they can be of any 
service to you for your ingenious inquiry, you are at liberty to 
use them in any way you think best. As you wish me to 
represent my own case, I shall begin with the following par- 
ticulars. 

I first adopted the vegetable diet about the year 1801, when 
a boy, partly from a disgust I felt toward animal food — a cir- 
cumstance I cannot exactly account for — and partly from hear- 
ing people talk of the health and longevity of many persons 
who had fed entirely on vegetable substances ; and of the sim- 
plicity of manners of the oriental herbivori. I also read some 
books which came in my way by chance about the cruelty 
practiced toward animals, with a view to improve the flesh con- 
sidered as an article of diet ; and I heard people discussing 
these subjects at dinner.* All these causes combined to in- 
spire my infantine fancy with such a disgust to the flesh of ani- 
mals, that for upward of five years I lived totally on the vege- 

* I have recently become acquainted with many persons at Cambridge 
and elsewhere, who, at some early period of their life, abstained from 
animal food from this consideration of the cruelty necessary to catch and 
destroy it. Most of these persons have since been distinguished for their 
intellectual and benevolent character. I have heard them say that they 
enjoyed as good health and strength during the time they fed on vege- 
tables as at any other in their lives, and I am sorry I cannot at this 
moment find access to them to obtain leave to give their names, and a 
more particular account of their cases. 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 217 

table productions of the earth, except perhaps a little milk and 
butter. I do not remember, being then young, and thinking 
very little about medical subjects, what change was produced 
on my feelings and health. I believe I was as well as before ; 
and the increased pleasure which I began to take in literary 
and scientific employments at that time, inclines me to suspect 
that a state of mind more friendly to mental enjoyments might 
possibly have been induced by a change to the light diet on 
which I began to feed. I may mention in this place, that dur- 
ing this period, I once being in Surrey, in the summer time, fed 
for more than a week almost entirely on the fruits of the gar- 
den, chiefly raspberries, strawberries, and currants ; I am sure 
I was never better nor stronger in my life. 

I may here observe, that while living in this manner I lost 
the dark incrustation on the teeth ; a disagreeable appearance 
for which persons have commonly recourse to the dentist. 

I left off the vegetable diet more from a notion of the con- 
venience of eating as other people did, than for any other rea- 
son. I continued eating a mixed diet till 1811, when I studied 
anatomy at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, where it was the fash- 
ion among man}' of the students to eat vegetable diet. Many 
had adopted it for ill health, and told me of the benefit they 
derived from it ; while others made the experiment in compli- 
ance with the habits of their friends. Hypotheses are very 
contagious, and I was infected, and determined to make the 
experiment fairly and completely. I lived for more than six- 
teen months on a strictly vegetable diet. The change at first 
produced was an augmentation of nervous sensibility, which 
was only temporary, and after a short time my health, which 
was always good, was now nearly the same as when on a mixed 
diet. I think I can say, however, that I was more disposed 
for and capable of laborious mental occupation than when 
feeding on mixed diet. 

That numerous persons have enjoyed good health on vege- 
table diet is doubtless ; but whether this diet produces the 
same degree of muscular sti-ength and octivitT/, is more doubt- 
ful. In my own case it certainly did. I frequently walked 
twenty miles in a morning, and took other hard exercise when 
on that diet, and I seldom felt fatigue. I am quite satisfied 
with the experiment, and having repeated it on others to whom 
I have recommended the vegetable diet, that people in general 
may, after a time, live as healthy on it as on a mixed diet. 
Whatever change may be produced at first, a very similar state 
of health appears to return after the continuance of any diet 
10 



218 VEGETABLE DIET 

when eaten in moderation ; at least as far as temporary appear- 
ances indicate. How far a mixed diet lays secretly the founda- 
tion for future disorders, or may abridge the term of life, I am 
unable to say. I leave this to yourself and other ingenious 
persons, who make it a subject of their study. But I am con- 
fident, in general, that people err considerably in the quantity 
of food they take, and the frequency of taking it, and in the 
manner in which they stimulate their stomachs by spirituous 
and fermented liquors. 

One circumstance which strongly impressed me with the 
small quantity of food which was necessary to sustain us in 
health, and which shows the safety and efScacy of a sudden 
adoption of vegetable diet, was the following. Last midsum- 
mer I received a severe wound on the back of the hand. Ap- 
prehending inflammation and its consequences, I left off all diet 
except a few potatoes and some strawberries for many days, 
and vegetable diet for many weeks. The wound continued 
healthy, and the perfect use of my hand returned in less than 
six weeks, without any considerable inflammation or any fever, 
during the progress of the reparation of the injury. I did not 
perceive any other inconvenience (after the intense pain which 
shortly followed the accident was over, which was only cuta- 
neous and lasted a few hours) than that of being obliged to 
wear my hand in a sling for a few Aveeks. I was perfectly 
strong and healthy, though my diet was only on vegetables, 
and diminished to one fourth of the ordinary quantity ; and this 
adopted after a copious bleeding from the wound,* 

To return to our subject ; I recommended A. B., about twenty- 
four years of age, who for a continual state of diarrhoea had 
been kept by his medical attendants on meat alone, to alter a 
plan from which he derived no benefit ; he began at first by 
eating biscuits and other farinaceous substances, and by degrees 
habituated his stomach to vegetable diet ; he grew healthy, lost 
the diarrhoea, and after being restored took to common mixed 
diet again ; but used much less in quantity, and remains well. 
I mention this case out of numerous others in which vegetable 
diet was successfully used, because it was a case in which, from 

* It is evident that my ingenious correspondent has followed the com- 
mon opinion, that the absence of inflammation was occasioned by the 
temporary change of his regimen. I have already given my opinion in 
the preceding pages that this doctrine is erroneous ; and should attribute 
the slightness of the suffering, under this accident, much more to the 
Bouiidness of constitution produced by the previous long-continued habit* 
of temperance and abstinence than to the living on vegetable diet, after 
the accident had happened. — Note oj the Author. 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 219 

the irritable state of the patient's stomach and bowels, the fruit 
and vegetables were regarded by the medici who attended him 
as particularly dangerous. 

I must say, in conclusion of this hasty letter, that all I have 
observed of the good effect of vegetable or any other diet, ap- 
pears to me referable to its power, arising either from some 
idiosyncrasy, or some peculiar state of the patient's system, of 
tranquilizing stomachic and intestinal irritation ; by this means 
of insuring better digestion, and producing that tranquillity and 
healthy action of the chylopoietic viscera, which is necessary to 
the cure of every disorder whether general or local, which is 
the principal condition of the maintenance of health. Of the 
remote effects of peculiar diets on the animal system, where 
digestion upholds temporary health for a while, I know abso- 
lutely nothing. I must therefore confine my practice of medi- 
cine to actual experience of facts ; and be contented till, by 
your labors, and the future inquiries of chemical physiologists, 
more is known about the component substances of the animal 
fibre ; to recommend people to acquire and preserve, by mental 
tranquillity, temperance, and exercise, and to restore by simple 
medicines in diseases, the healthy action of those important 
organs, which nature has designed to repair the daily waste, 
and to restore the accidental injuries of our mutable fabric. 

It may be well to observe, in the course of this inquiry, that 
if your doctrine and experience should be able to show that 
people may live healthily in all climates on vegetable produc- 
tions, the same quantity of land would sustain more human 
beings ; a fact of which agriculturists have assured me that 
people would be more free from disease, and from inducements 
to gluttony and intemperance, and that the removal of the dis- 
gusting scenes of cruelty, practiced on edible animak, would 
be gratifying to those who are organized to feel benevolently, 
would cease to operate as an incitement to the bad feeling of 
others, and would tend in time to a better state of society. 

A circumstance may be mentioned here, of great moment in 
the education of youth, namely, that the principles of all hu- 
man actions are in the organization, though education and ex- 
ternal influences are necessary, generally, to excite their 
activity. Examples have the most powerful influence in 
rousing either the good or bad feelings ; and precepts are of 
little avail in comparison. The constant habit of destroying 
animated beings, both for food and for amusement, is therefore 
one of the most fertile sources of the ferocity and brutality of the 
human character. Hence we see the moral benefit of any diet 



220 VEGETABLE DIET 

which would diminish, in any considerable degree, this baneful 
example. Children, says an eminent author, begin with killing 
flies, and end their Uves at the gallows for the crime of murder ! 

Yours, etc., 

Medicus. 
London, Jan. 21, 1815. 



CASE XVII. 

Hypochondriasis, Headache, Indigestion, Costiveness, and Jaundice. 

from a correspondent. 
Dear Sir, 

The incalculable benefit which I have, for these last two 
years, experienced, and am daily experiencing from the vege- 
table regimen, with distilled water, would have been, independ- 
ent of any other consideration, a reason sufficient for comply- 
ing with your wish, to have the principal facts of my case. 
There are yet other considerations which have much weight 
with me ; you have made me greatly, and I would not hope 
imgratefully, your debtor for all which I now enjoy of health, 
of tranquillity, and of serenity of mind. Besides, it is but just, 
that you should be put in possession of every instance where- 
in evident and acknowledged good has resulted from the dif- 
fusion of your opinions, since it is only by the multiplication 
of facts that the truth of your position can be made to *' come 
home to men's business and bosoms." 

Should you judge the detail of my case worthy of publica- 
tion, perhaps it may not be misplaced to observe, that I made 
trial of the vegetable regimen when you were unknown to me, 
even by name ; and therefore I was not influenced by any pre- 
viously formed opinion of what food is most natural to man. 
Imperfect as was my trial of the regimen at first, much benefit 
was derived from it ; many unpleasant and intolerable sensa- 
tions were alleviated ; still something was felt to be wanting to 
its completion, when it was my happiness to become acquainted 
with you, who instructed me in the necessity of abandoning 
every thing animalized, and of adopting a strict vegetable regi- 
men, with distilled water ; since which time my health has 
«ensibly increased, and is daily increasing ; felicity of mind, 
which had been despaired of, has been obtained ; and ulti- 
mately there will be assui-ed "quiete et pui-e et eleganter actse 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 221 

setatis placida ac lenis senectus"." Having premised thus 
much, I will state my case. 

At a very early period of life, and, indeed, during the whole 
of my education at school, my health was imcertain and pre- 
carious. What particular aliment I labored under cannot at 
this distance of time be remembered; perhaps, however; an 
opinion may be formed of the nature of my complaints, when 
it is known, that between my thirteenth and fourteenth years, 
I was very severely attacked with jaundice ; and that previ- 
ously, for many years, distressing headaches, and symptoms 
of indigestion, with habitual costiveness, had been experienced. 
Various were the means had recourse to, besides the aid of 
medicine, to alleviate my sufferings, to re-estabhsh my health, 
and to correct a constitution, denominated bilious; all was of 
no avail, and I dragged on a miserable existence until the age 
of fifteen, when I was removed from school, and was for a 
series of years laboriously and actively employed. This situa- 
tion in life did certainly improve my health ; and no doubt but 
much more would have been done by my active employment, 
toward the re-establishment of my health, had I not suffered 
myself to be influenced by the general opinion, that labor and 
activit}'' can only be gone through when animal substances and 
fermented liquors are used ; hence I was neither sparing of the 
former, partaking of it thrice in the day ; nor very temperate, 
though not intemperate, in the latter. After the expiration of 
that series of years, my views and intentions in life having been 
changed, and otherwise directed, my labor and activity were 
succeeded by sedentariness, and studiousness ; here again I was 
inconsiderately persuaded by persons equally inconsiderate and 
unreflecting with myself, who, however, as medical men ought 
to have been better instructed, that the labor of the mind 
cannot be endured and supported, but by having recourse to 
solids and liquids of a stimulating quality. The ill effects of 
such mode of living, the seeds of which most certainly had been 
sown, and deeply, between my fourteenth and twenty-first 
years, now became manifest. In a very short time, I was 
wholly incapable of continuing my mental labor ; was har- 
assed by giddiness, and confusion of the head ; my stomach 
was much more disordered, and my bowels were very much 
more irregular; my mind became depressed, and disturbed by 
all the melancholy forebodings of a thorough hypochondriac, 
experiencing 

"mortis formidinem et iram, 
Somnia, terroses magicos, miracula, sagas, 
Noctunios Lemures oorteutaque Thessala." 



222 VEGETABLE DIET 

To enumerate the means devised, and made trial of to relieve 
me, would be to repeat what is usually enjoined in similar 
cases ; suffice it to say, such was my condition, now better, 
now worse, for many years, from 1802 to 1810, in which last 
year my health was very much worse than it had been in 
any former year. Being at Edinburgh, as a student of medi- 
cine, and a pupil of Dr. Gregory, I requested 'his advice, 
which was of no avail. Fortunately, however, I had become 
acquainted with a student of medicine who had been similarly 
affected with myself. Mentioning to him my case, he wished 
me to make trial of a vegetable regimen, with milk. I did, 
and during the six months my stay at Edinburgh was pro- 
tracted my health was much amended. Yet no solid nor sub- 
stantial benefit Avas derived from the vegetable regimen until 
I had been introduced to you, in January, 1812, and had 
perused your publications ; when the milk was abandoned, and 
distilled water substituted in its place. The change from that 
year has been great : all that had rendered existence irksome 
has been removed ; my mind is tranquilized and calmed ; my 
health has increased, and no doubt will continue to increase, 
never again, I trust, to be greatly diminished. Perhaps a 
short narrative of what I am now equal to in mind and body, 
contrasted with what I was not equal to, when living upon 
flesh, and fermented liquors, will be convincing. In 1812 my 
mind and body were capable of enduring more exertion than in 
1811 ; in this year, 1813 and especially in the past summer, 
a great accession of mental vigor, and of bodily strength and 
acti\aty, has been gained, more than in 1812 ; but an improve- 
ment had also been experienced in 1812, greater than in 1811 ; 
the inference is plain and obvious — 

" Mobilitate vigeo viresque acquire eundo." 

Through the past summer, I have not unfrequently risen at 
four o'clock in the morning to study, and I have generally 
gone to bed at ten o'clock ; my sleep has been sound and re- 
freshing, and free from horrid dreams. Not so when my food 
was flesh, and my drink fermented liquors ; then the hours of 
sleep did not refresh me in mind, nor recruit me in body ; but 
now it is 

" Airy, b'ght, from pure digestion bred, 
Aud temperate vapors blaud." 

Through the past summer, I have been equal to more walk- 
ing exercise, been much less fatigued, and required less suste- 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 223 

nance ; fruit, with bread and biscuit, in moderate quantity being 
sufficient. Indeed I have observed that the hghter the food, 
and the more moderate in quantity, the more walking exercise 
I am equal to ; moreover, my respiration is more equable, each 
inspiration is longer, and the number within a given time fev/er, 
consequently the ability to continue exercise is increased. Very 
different was it, when I lived not as at present ; then there was 
wanted not only the inclination to exercise, but an ability to 
continue it ; upon level ground my respiration was frequent, 
hurried, laborious, now I can ascend a long and steep hill, 
walking very little slower than upon level ground ; and when 
I have surmounted the hill, my respiration has been in no de- 
gree either hurried or panting. With respect to my bowels, 
they are now regular, requiring no medicine to excite them to 
action ; on the contrary, when I lived otherwise than at present, 
they were torpid, and needed much stimulating ; in short, my 
habit of body was considered constitutionally costive ; an opi- 
nion most decidedly erroneous ; it having been my erroneous 
and unnatural mode of living which contributed thereto. I 
should here close my statement in the usual and generally un- 
meaning language of persons who wish not to appear ungrate- 
ful, but I restrain myself; to you, dear sir, " conscientia bene * 
actse vitae, multorumque benefactorum recordatio, jucundis- 
sima est.'* I am, 

Yours sincerely, 

Justinian Minooh. 
Walworth, 6th Oct., 1813. 



CASES XVIIL, XIX., XX., AND XXI. 

Miscellaneous. 
FROM A CORRESPONDENT. 

I HAVE great satisfaction in being able to give the memoirs of 
a third family, who (I hope I may say it without the imputa- 
tion of vanity) have had the spirit and good sense to imitate 
the example given by Mr. Newton and myself. This I shall 
do in the words of the head of the family, a gentleman resi- 
dent in a distant coimty, conveyed to me in the following 
letter : 



224 VEGETABLE DIET 

Dec. 12, 1814. 
Dear Sir, 

I AM happy to learn from your friendly letter that your book, 
for which I have long been anxiously looking, is in progress for 
publication. I wish to see you before the public, and to learn 
if your opponents will venture fairly to encounter you by argu- 
ment, and give the subject that full discussion which medical 
opinions of infinitely minor importance are daily receiving. 
From such a discussion, I can only anticipate a triumph of 
your doctrines equally honorable to you and beneficial to 
society. 

My own experience on the subject has been perfectly satis- 
factory. When I first adopted your regimen in my family, I 
began it without any undue prejudice in its favor. M}'^ own 
health had always been good, so that I had no personal alarm 
or suffering to drive me from common habits ; and having had 
no illness and deaths among my children, I could not be quite 
unmoved by the predictions of permanent weakness or danger- 
ous or fatal maladies with which I was on all sides threatened, 
as the inevitable effects of this mode of living. After persisting 
near four years in the use of a strict vegetable diet and distilled 
water, I am happy to give my decided testimony in favor of 
your system. Its effects have been a gradual and important 
strengthening of the constitution, without any inconvenience or 
disagreeable symptom. I found the change easy and pleasant, 
and have never had the least wish to resume the use of animal 
food. I have always used much exercise ; I have found ray 
power of bearing fatigue increase ; and I have never during the 
whole time felt even the slightest indisposition. 

With respect to my children, A , aged twelve, has al- 
ways been a stout boy, but was formerly liable to violent inflam- 
matory attacks on his chest and windpipe, which only yielded 
to the powerful applications of bleeding, blisters, James' Pow- 
der, and digitalis. He had always been hardily brought up, 
and lived less fully than most children with whom I am ac- 
quainted. These attacks were extremely sudden, and were 
preceded by an unusual appearance of health. Since we have 
adopted your regimen, he has never had a day's illness, and is 
in size, muscular strength, and power of supporting fatigue 
equal to any boy of his age I have met with. 

B , aged ten. The history of his health resembles that 

of his brother ; his life has been repeatedly endangered by the 
same inflammations of the trachea and lungs, which have been 
repelled by the same remedies. The change of diet has had 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 225 

the like favorable effects upon him ; and he has enjoyed the 
same freedom from sickness or indisposition. These boys, in 
color and fullness of habit, have every appearance of perfect 
and robust health ; they are thinly clad, much abroad, and ex- 
posed, without precaution or injury, to all changes of the wea- 
ther. They find their mode of diet easy and pleasant, and have 
no wish for animal food. 

C , five years old, was a very delicate child from the 

birth, and suffered much from want of action of the bowels ; 
this defect has been completely removed, and though still less 
robust than the two former, the general health is quite good. 
Tliis child has been twice indisposed for a short time with cold 
and sore throat, the last time about six months ago ; did not 
change the diet till some time after the experiment had been 
tried on the stronger part of the family, and though so young 
and so delicate, was the only one of the party who reta.ned 
for any length of time an inclination for animal food. We 
should not of course like to appear by name before the public, 
but for any other use you choose to make of them, my observa- 
tions on this or any future occasion are quite at your service. 



CASE XXII. 

General Debility, Mental Weakness, Sleeplessness, and Headache. 
FROM A CORRESPONDENT. 

Sandon, near Royston, Dec. 28, 1814. 

Dear Sir, 

About two years ago I was so very sickly that I had but little 
enjoyment in life. My great complaint was general debility, 
which daily increased upon me, took away all desire and abil- 
ity for exertion, and rendered my mind incapable of attending 
to any subject for any length of time. Occasionally I was un- 
der a considerable stimulus and animation, which were followed 
by coldness and languor. It is not an easy task to make those 
persons comprehend me Avho have never felt this distressing 
debility of the human frame, which so materially affects the 
spirits, and deprives the mind of all its energies. I am con- 
vinced that man is completely a material being, and that all 
permanent courage and strength of motive spontaneously re- 
sult from the strength and purity of the physical system. Sleep 
10* 



226 VEGETABLE DIET 

did not seem to benefit me ; my appetite was craving, and sel- 
dom satisfied, and once a week I was subject to a distressing 
sick headache. My fluids were evidently in an impure state, 
consequently the solid parts were not nourished ; for impurity 
cannot impart strength, and hence that general debility of which 
I complained. Having read Mr. Newton's work, and your 
publications, I resolved to adopt the use of vegetables with 
distilled water, and now, after the experience of nearly two 
yeai-s, I can say with the strictest truth and certainty, that my 
health has been gradually improving up to the present time. 
My strength is greater than it ever was before ; my painful 
sensations have left me, and my headache seldom attacks me, 
and never with its former violence. I do not mean to say that 
I am perfectly well ; such an idea would be absurd, and con- 
trary to the laws of the human constitution ; but I am certainly 
better in health noiv than I remember ever to have been in any 
former period of my life. The comparison is not to be made 
between me and any other person, but between what / am nov) 
and what / was before I adopted this regimen. 

Vegetables are certainly the natural support of man : they 
recommend themselves by their freshness and purity ; and by 
their natural sweetness and agreeableness to the palate. They 
require so little trouble to prepare them, and are always a nice, 
clean, and delicate food ; while dead animal substances are very 
offensive to the senses, and it becomes a very dirty and disa- 
greeable task to cook and prepare them for the appetite. 
The slauo-hter of animals is also a ferocious and diso-ustinof 
act, which greatly opposes the growth of benevolent disposi- 
tions. Comparative anatomy has clearly proved that man is, 
in his construction, an herbivorous animal, which ought to have 
great weight with every rational mind. The world, sir, will 
thank you, in some future time, for your labors in one of the 

most benevolent investiorations that can interest our under- 

• 
standmgs. Yours, smcerely, G. G. Fordham. 

Mr. Fordham received, in the course of his attempts to im- 
prove his health, convincing proof of the necessity of uniting 
the use of the pure water to the vegetable regimen. He at 
first left off animal food only, using the same water to which 
he had been accustomed. But he found the change irksome, 
complained much of his feeble and fastidious stomach, and did 
not appear to receive due strength and nourishment from his 
food. To some inquiries which I made on this subject, Mr. 
Fordham sent me the following answer : 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 227 

" You are perfectly correct in the idea that the vegetable 
diet was irksome and uneasy to my stomach before I had 
united with it the use of distilled water. I thought at first, 
that the benefit of distilled water must be a mere fancy, and I 
even ridiculed it as trifling and absurd ; but I am now, by ex- 
perience, thoroughly persuaded that it is of the greatest im- 
portance. I felt an immediate benefit, my stomach was easy 
and light, and I did not experien7,e the slightest sense of 
weakness, but a gradual increase of strength. I am convinced 
that the use of distilled water greatly assists the stomach in 
the digestion of vegetable substances." 

Mr. Fordham, I must add, is a young man, under thirty 
years of age. 



CASE XXIIL 

Disposition to Pulmonary Consumption. 

Feb. 20, 1815. — Having received the appointment of physi- 
cian to the General Dispensary, Aldersgate-street, in the year 
1810, it has given me the opportunity of making more numer- 
ous trials of what can be done by regimen than I before pos- 
sessed. It is obvious, however, that the description of per- 
sons, who apply to these institutions, is not such as can, in 
general, be wholly depended upon, either for regularity of 
conduct, or for veracity. But, I believe, that in the examples 
I shall select, due attention was paid to the regulations en- 
joined. 

J. U., aged about twenty-seven, applied to the dispensary, 
about Christmas, 1810, for a severe, dry, rending cough, I 
thought the man, from his habit and appearance, was becom- 
ing consumptive. He was thin, and rather emaciated. He 
had been troubled with the cough only during the winter, but 
he said, that for three or four years he had found his breath 
fail. He could not take exercise so well as formerly, nor go 
up stairs. I advised him, therefore, in conjunction with the 
medicines suited to his case, to adopt the regimen, with which 
he declared himself perfectly willing to comply. 

He soon lost his cough ; which, however, I do not attribute 
to this change. He informed me, moreover, that he found 
immediate relief from it. He found his respiration strengthened. 



228 VEGETABLE DIET 

and, in no long time, he became as equal to exercise as in the 
former part of his life. 

I saw this man occasionally for three years, during which 
time he continued in improved health ; but he remained thin 
and meagre ; and he had some returns of cough, but of no 
great violence, the two following winters. I remained, there- 
fore, of the opinion I first adopted, that he had been really on 
the verge of consumption. It is, however, impossible to prove 
this to the complete satisfaction of others. In internal dis- 
eases, we must content ourselves with probable conjectures. 
After this time he changed his residence, and I have lost 
sight of him. 

This man kept a ham and beef shop ; and he cooked his 
meat by steam. He found it easy, then, to prepare his dis- 
tilled water by a part of the apparatus which he employed in 
his business. I was satisfied, on this account, that he really, 
in this respect, followed the directions given him. 



CASE XXIV. 

Chronic Pains of the Bowels, Bloody Discharges, and Constipation. 

J. K., aged eleven, had, in the beginning of the summer of 
1810, the scarlatina. On recovering, it was observed that the 
abdomen was too hard ; he complained of pains of the bowels, 
and had often bloody stools. He took a good deal of medi- 
cine without benefit, and continuing ill, became my patient at 
the General Dispensary, in February, 1811. 

He complained of severe pains of the bowels, apparently 
like colic, attacking him two or three times in the course of 
the day. The abdomen was so hard, that it would not yield 
to the pressure of the hand, and strangely protuberant, irre- 
gular, and deformed. He was in a decaying state of health ; 
but the pulse was regular and natural. The bowels were 
irregular, but commonly bound. 

As I thought there was little probability of this boy being 
cured by medicines alone, I proposed to his mother to join the 
regimen to the use of such remedies as he appeared to require ; 
to which she gave her consent. He began about the middle 
of February, 1811. 

The pains of the abdomen continued to recur with just the 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 229 

same violence for about lialf a year. Hardly a day passed 
without his being obliged to go to bed in consequence of them. 
About August, they remitted for three or four weeks, but they 
then recurred with great severity. Toward the end of Sep- 
tember they became much less severe, and he was able to go 
to school, and to follow the common occupations of his years. 

For the remainder of the year, he continued in improved 
health. The pains of the belly were either gone or very tri- 
fling ; the bowels were nearly regular. 

But though this, as a constitutional disease, was nearly cured, 
as a local disease it continued with very little change. The 
abdomen was not quite so hard, but it still continued tumid, 
and with much irregular deformity of shape. 

After he had been a patient of the dispensary a twelve- 
month, he ceased to attend, and I have since lost sight of him. 



CASE XXV. 

Leucorrhoea, Fluor Albos, or the Whites. 

Another patient of the General Dispensary afforded me strong 
evidence how much the sense of weakness, which is so much 
complained of under the vegetable regimen, is produced by the 
up.e of common water. This patient, E. F., aged sixty, was 
afflicted with leucorrhcea ; but I do not think it worth while to 
relate the particulars of her case. I was induced to recommend 
her to use the regimen, from some circumstances in her general 
health ; and she used it four or five months with evident 
advantage. Some short time afterward she came to me, at 
my own house, complaining much of weakness. Upon inquiry, 
I found that she had quitted London for about a month, to 
keep a house at Hornsey ; that there she had continued the 
vegetable regimen, but had not used the distilled water, think- 
ing it unnecessary in the country. I explained to her what I 
thought the cause of her weakness ; and she found what I said 
to be correct. Upon returning to the use of the distilled water, 
the sense of weakness vanished. 

This woman was at a time of life at which people are very 
apprehensive of permanent injury, from relinquishing animal 
food. But she certainly experienced much benefit, as was evi- 
dent from her improved health, and even from her improved 
looks. She became stronger, and rather gained flesh. 



230 ' VEGETABLE DIET. , 

CASE XXVI. 

Feebleness of Strength. 

Though it is indisputable that animal food most commonly ex- 
cites and increases the muscular power, yet even this does not 
appear to be universally true.* There are habits in which 
obviously, while it impairs the sensibility, it likewise diminishes 
the muscular strength. A lady somewhat more than thirty 
years old gave a striking proof of this fact. She had been an 
invalid some years, complaining principally of weakness, unable 
on this account to take proper exercise, and pallid. There is, 
perhaps, at the bottom of these ailments, some uterine com- 
plaint ; but the symptoms are not very definite. During the 
year 1812, she adhered to the regimen of distilled water and 
vegetable diet. In consequence she became less pallid ; the 
countenance expanded and became more animated, and she 
gained strength. These changes must have been occasioned 
by the relinquishment of animal food ; for she had previously 
been in the habit of using the distilled water, with little influ- 
ence on her health. 

Notwithstanding such evident advantage, I was not a little 
surprised to find that, at the end of the year, this lady thought 
proper to abandon the system and return to the use of animal 
food. The immediate motive to this I could not exactly learn; 
but suspect that the wish to avoid singularity had a predomi- 
nant influence on her resolution. 



CASE XXVII. 

Hypochondriasis, Nervous Weakness, and Constipation. 

Feb. 20, 1815. — Mr. P e, aged now thirty-one, a respect- 
able tradesman, consulted me at the end of the year 1811, under 
great agitation of mind. He had been ill between three and 
four years ; had frequent uneasiness and oppression of the head, 
for which he had been repeatedly cupped. From this he had 
received benefit, but it was only temporary; but, besides, he 

♦ I am of the opinion that Dr. Lambe had not at the time he wrote 
duly considered this subject. For a great variety of facts in proof that 
animal food is not most conducive to physical power, I refer the reader 
to Graham's Science of Human Life. — S. 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 231 

obviously labored under the highest degree of nervous irritation. 
He labored under great depression of spirits ; constant anxiety 
of mind ; he could not talk of his complaints with any calm- 
ness ; and was constantly uneasy and walking about. Going to 
a fire oppressed his breath so as not to be bearable. The bowels 
were habitually bound. 

He informed me that till the age of twenty-three, he had 
lived principally on vegetable and farinaceous food ; that about 
tliis time he began to live much upon a fuller diet of animal 
food, eating it twice a day, and at the same time became more 
sedentary; that in consequence he grew fatter, but his health 
became worse, and he gradually fell into the condition I have 
described. He had heard of some good having been done by 
the regimen in a case which he thought similar to his own, and 
Oil that account was anxious to try it. 

I encouraged him to so, ordering him at the same time a few 
laxative medicines, which I thought he required. He began at 
tliat time, and, as he informs me, has adhered to it ever since. 
I advised him also to use much exercise on foot. 

For a few months the symptoms of this disease continued in 
full force, but then all his sufferings became alleviated ; and 
during the second year he was quite a different man. He re- 
gained his spirits, could attend regularly to his business, and 
his complaints, though not wholly gone, were comparatively 
quite trifling. He had lost flesh very much, a loss he found 
no occasion to regret. 

He seems at present in perfect health, subject only to such 
ti-ifling ailments as happen to every body. Latterly he has 
gained flesh. 

I do not know that this disease was tending to death, or 
attended with any immediate danger. ' But the mental suffer- 
ings which the patient underwent, were, in my opinion, more 
severe and harassing than the symptoms of many fatal diseases. 



CASE XXVHI. 

Difficult Urination, Falling of the Womb, and Constipation. 

February 20, 1815. — M. J., aged twenty-five, applied to the 
dispensary in October, 1812. The uterus was prolapsed; she 
complained of great irritation in making water, and, besides, 
had obstinate constipation of the bowels, with tuniefisction and 



232 VEGETABLE DIET 

soreness of the lower part of the abdomen. Under these com- 
plaints she had suffered about three years, and to so great a 
degree that she was hardly able to walk about, or do the work 
of her house. 

She had been at another dispensary, and had a good deal of 
medical advice, without gaining any effectual relief ; and, there- 
fore, though the general state of the health did not seem very 
bad, I thought medicines alone would prove ineffectual. I 
therefore proposed the regimen to her, in addition to some 
demulcents, laxatives, and the regular use of glysters, to unload 
the lower part of the intestines. She declared herself willing 
to do any thing at all likely to relieve her ; and she began it 
on the 8th of November, 1812. 

From this plan she found a speedy alleviation of her suffer- 
ings. In two or three months the soreness and tumefaction of 
the bowels were removed, and gradually cathartic pills alone did 
their proper office of unloading the bowels, without the aid of 
injections. The most obstinate symptom was the pain and irri- 
tation in making water. But one day in October, 1813, she 
voided a calculus about the size of a small bean ; and then this 
irritation ceased, and all her complaints were effectually re- 
lieved. 

She, like the subject of Case XIV., appeared to become 
more hot and feverish from relinquishing animal food. The 
head became oppressed, with a sense of fullness and pain. These 
effects (for they cannot be thought the direct and natural 
effects of vegetable diet) seem to me to be analogous to the 
well-known fact of the pulse rising sometimes by bleeding. A 
degree of fever that was, as it were, latent and suppressed, 
becomes evident by the relinquishment of animal food. These 
symptoms gradually subsided. 

It is said that patients laboring under diabetes become more 
thirsty and feverish by the use of vegetables. This may be 
true, and I should account for it upon the same principles ; but 
it does not, in my apprehension, form any solid objection against 
their use even in this disease. 

This woman had at the Christmas following a very severe 
attack of inflammatory fever. The bowels were tender and 
inflamed ; and the head was aftected even to the extent of delir- 
ium. But in about a fortnight it subsided, and she was restored 
to good health. When I last saw her, three or four months 
ago, she continued her regimen, and was in very good health. 

The calculus was certainly only a portion of this woman's 
sufferings. I may observe that it has been proved very dis- 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 233 

tinctly that vegetable diet alone will not prevent the formation 
of calculus. A writer, whom I have cited more than once 
(Lobb, on Stone and Gout), has given a case where a person 
became first afflicted with calculus, who had used a vegetable 
diet eight years. 



CASE XXIX. 

Cancer of the Uterus. 



lOih March, 1815. — On the 16th of January, 1813, a 
woman became my patient at the General Dispensary, who, 
from her good sense and decency of manners, gave me a pros- 
pect of being able to effect what I had long had at heart : to 
treat a case of carcinoma, in an early stage, as I judge such a 
case ought to be treated, under the inspection of upright and 
enlightened professional men — terms, which it needs no testi- 
mony of mine to show to be applicable to the gentlemen, my 
colleagues, at that institution. 

A, R., in the forty-third year of her age, had been afflicted 
for eight months with very severe pains, referred principally 
to the region of the uterus. The pain, she said, was darting 
and shooting ; and though seated principally in the uterus, it 
was sometimes in front, at other times posterior, about the 
rectum. For, about the same time, she had had a discharge 
of a thin, foetid, and apparently acrimonious ichor, sometimes 
tinged with blood. This discharge inflamed the skin of the 
thighs, with which it came in contact. 

I took an early opportunity of making an examination of the 
j)arts. I found the os tincae low down in the vagina ; it was 
not much changed in form ; perhaps it was a little fuller than 
natural. But it was very tender ; a little handling gave un- 
easiness ; and the pain, as she told me, from this cause, lasted 
almost the whole succeeding day. 

I could not doubt that these were symptoms of cancer, an 
opinion in which I was confirmed by the habit and appear- 
ance of the subject. She described herself as having been 
long in a feeble, delicate state of health. The appetite had 
been very bad even for years, but had been latterly much 
worse. She had lost many teeth; and the gums were very 
lax and spongy. The countenance was pallid ; the strength 
was somewhat impaired ; the breathing bad, particularly upon 



234 \ EGETABLE L.IET 

exertion, or going up stairs. Toward night the legs swelled. 
The pulse was one hundred. 

On the 7th of April, this w^oraan appeared before the con- 
sultation of the medical officers of the dispensary. I believe 
that none of these gentlemen had any doubts with regard to 
the nature of the case. She has, during the course of the 
treatment, repeatedly been examined by them. The reports, 
which were drawn up at each examination, I shall subjoin to 
my own account of the case. 

With regard to the medicines that she has used, I may say 
here, once for all, that it has been necessary to employ opiates 
pretty freely, from the beginning of her treatment to the pre- 
sent time, both to relieve the pain and procure sleep ; this last 
has been effected very imperfectly. Saturnine lotions have 
been useful to prevent the inflammation, and excoriation of the 
discharge. Aperients (principally sulphate of magnesia) were 
.also at first necessary, but in a few months ceased to be requi- 
site. She has taken also a few other medicines, occasionally, 
but as they had no marked influence on her complaints, I need 
not trouble the reader with an account of them. 

She consented to give the regimen a fair trial, and entered 
upon it on the 10th of February, 1813. 

I also advised her particularly to use as much fruit as pos- 
sible. As the strength was radically impaired, I recommended 
her to be sparing of exercise, but rather to use considerably a 
horizontal posture. 

For more than half a year very little ground was gained. 
The muscular strength diminished, and the pains continued to 
be very severe. But the pulse was reduced in frequency : it 
became habitually about eighty in the minute ; the discharge 
became less offensive, and, apparently, less acrimonious. 

In August, 1813, she had a considei-able respite from pain, 
which continued for three weeks. But it then recurred with 
great severity ; but still, though the paroxysms were as fre- 
quent as during the former part of the year, she found that 
the severity of them was upon the whole sensibly diminished. 
The respiration became rather stronger. With the pains, the 
discharge (which had been checked) returned ; it was green 
and foetid. 

In the middle of December, the discharge nearly ceased, 
and the pain likewise. What she now principally complained 
of was an almost total want of sleep, and of appetite, with 
great lowness of spirits. 

Durmg the ensuing half year, the symptoms of cancer were 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 235 

more completely got under. In the middle of April, 1814, 
the relief was very great. In June, the pain was quite gone, 
and the discharge was very trifling. In August she was dis- 
charged, principally at her own request, with all the symptoms 
of carcinoma subdued. The general state of the health, too, 
was considerably improved.. 

But in the October following, she again became a patient. 
The pain had returned with severity, having been brought on, 
apparently, by the approach of the cold weather. It was 
again attended with some trifling discharge. This aggrava- 
tion of the disease was, however, of short continuance. In 
four or five weeks it was removed, and she again Avas restored 
to her habitual state of a cessation from pain, almost complete, 
and the discharge stopped, except, perhaps, in a quantity so 
small as to be hardly perceptible, and as to be no incon- 
venience. 

The present state of this, considered as a local disease, is 
very nearly as has been just described. Habitually she is 
without pain or discharge. But she has occasional attacks, 
which last a few days, or a week. They are severe enough 
to break her rest, and give her uneasiness ; but not enough to 
cause confinement, or to prevent her doing the work of her 
house. The last of these attacks was in the middle of Feb- 
ruary of the present year. 

The proper symptoms of carcinoma, then, the pain and the 
discharge have been subdued and kept under by this treat- 
ment. The account to be given of the general state of the con- 
stitution, though not so satisfactory as the eff'ect upon the 
local disease, has been still sufficiently encouraging. 

In fact, the chief complaints, now for about fourteen months, 
have been much less regarding the original symptom of the 
disease than the general state of the health. Want of appe- 
tite, the sleep disturbed by tumultuous dreams, and some- 
times wholly interrupted ; want of breath, lowness of spirits, 
general debility, aching, and lassitude, have been the principal 
subjects of complaint. Upon the whole, however, the health 
has sensibly improved ; so that she is, at present, considerably 
better than she was a twelvemonth ago. 

The pulse continues calm, being commonly about eighty in 
the minute. The respiration is still not strong, but it has 
mended. The appetite remains bad. The sleep is disturbed, 
but upon the whole it is more calm than formerly. The mus- 
cular strength is a little improved ; the spirits are better; there 
is more cheerfulness and animation in the countenance. 



236 VEGETABLE DIET 

I think it right to add that, except from the use of opium, 
what she has found the greatest benefit and comfort from has 
been the unrestricted use of fruit and recent vegetables, as 
radishes, etc. When she has been able to use any other sus- 
tenance, the stomach would receive willingly something of this 
nature ; and at night, when the tongue and fauces were diy 
and clammy, chewing some fruit was found to be the mo?t 
certain and pleasant resource. 

When we consider the deplorable, and hitherto desperate na- 
ture of this disease, that when affecting the internal organs, it 
must be deemed a more advanced stage of the complaint than 
a state of scirrhus in an external gland, this account will, I 
hope, be deemed as satisfactory as can be reasonably expected. 
The conclusions to be drawn from the facts stated are the very 
same as those which flowed from those related under Case XII F. 
of this work. If I therefore repeat them, I trust that the im- 
portance of the subject will be deemed a sufficient apology. 
It follows then from this statement — 

1st. That this disease was evidently carcinoma. Its history, 
at the first examination, made this sufficiently evident. 

2d. That the disease continues to be carcinoma at this time. 
The same symptoms which at the beginning authorized us to 
give it this designation, still recur, but with a much inferior de- 
gree of severity. The effect of the treatment then has not 
been, strictly speaking, to cure the disease, but to control and 
mitigate the symptoms. 

3d. But by the regimen, life itself has been preserved. It 
will not be disputed, I suppose, that even a twelvemonth is as 
much as, under the common habits of life, a case of uterine can- 
cer might be expected to last. Two years must be, indisputa- 
bly, beyond all probability. But five-and-twenty months have 
now elapsed, and the patient is not only alive, but in a state of 
improved health. 

4th. The disease has made no local progress. On the con- 
trary, the symptoms have been all soothed and trancj[uilized. 

5th. The ulcerative process has been wholly superseded. 

6th. I may add that the facts of this case may be applied to 
the treatment of dropsy as well as to that of the cancer. There 
was, when she first became a patient of the dispensary, some 
anasarcous swelhng of the legs, as I have noted. This con- 
tinued nearly in the same state for the first year, or year and a 
half. It is now nearly, if not entirely gone. The flow of 
urine has throughout continued very copious. 

I need hardly say how much encouragement the result of 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 23T 

this case gives to those afflicted with external cancerous tumors 
to adopt this mode of dieting. For here was every sign of a 
radically impaired and enfeebled constitution ; the appetite 
greatly injured, the breath bad, the legs swelling, the strength 
declining ; in fine, all the great and important functions imper- 
fectly performed, though there was no breach of substance, 
nor any apparent great local disorganization. How absurd 
then (by the way) is it to say that this disease is in its origin 
local. But we know that many persons with true cancerous 
tumors enjoy, even for years, a relatively good state of health ; 
most undoubtedly, infinitely better than the subject of this re- 
port. I should hope, therefore, that gradually they may be 
made sensible of what is most proper to enable them to pass the 
remaining term of life with as much ease and comfort as their 
situation renders admissible. 

It remains only to add to this account the reports of the case 
taken at the Consultation Committee at the dispensary. 



GENERAL DISPENSARY. 

Present at the Consultation Committee, 7th April, 1813, Dr. Clutterbuck, 
Dr. Birkbeck, Dr. Lambe, Mr. Vaux, and Mr. Norris. 

Mrs. A. R., aged forty-two, has complained since June last of 
severe shooting pains at the lower part of the abdomen, with a 
great discharge of foetid acrid matter ; there likewise exists 
considerable tenderness of the hypogastric region, with difficulty 
of making water. For upward of five years, the catamenia 
have not occurred, but pain and hardness of the breasts have 
been frequently noticed. The bowels are regular, but the 
evacuations are attended with pain, and the discharge of clots 
of blood. Within the vagina no swelling can be perceived, but 
the uterus has descended. She has employed opium with 
temporary alleviation of the symptoms, and other medicines 
without any benefit. 

August 4th, 1812. — Present, Dr. Clutterbuck, Dr. Lambe, and Mr. Vaux. 

Mrs. A. R. asserts that the pains are aggravated, but the 
discharge is less in quantity and less foetid at present ; such 
variations, however, she states are not unusual. The lower ex- 



238 VEGETABLE DIET 

tremities are become anasarcous. Her rest is now much inter- 
rupted. The pulse is generally about eighty in the minute, 
with frequent intermissions ; a circumstance also noticed about 
two months since. Sumat Hydrosulph. Ammonia gtt. vj. ter 
in die sensim dosim augendo. 

February 2d, 1814. — Present, Dr. Clutterbuck, Dr. Birkbeck, Dr. Lambe 
Mr. Vaux, and Mr. Young. 

Mrs. A. R. states that the pains are .much easier, though 
she still obtains but httle rest. The discharge, which is less " 
than formerly, is yellow and without blood. The hydrosul- 
phuret was soon discontinued, and cort. cinchonae taken, which 
is directed to be discontinued." 

August 3d, 1814. — Present, Dr. Clutterbuck, Dr. Birkbeck, Dr. Lambe, 

and Mr. Vaux. 

Mrs. A. R. now reports herself to be much improved. 
There is not any discharge, and but little pain. She has chiefly 
used opium, with a vegetable diet and distilled water. 

February Ist, 1815. — Present, Dr. Clutterbuck, Dr. Birkbeck, Dr. Lambe, 
Mr. Vaux, and Mr. Young. 

Mrs. A. R. declares that she has persevered in the use of 
vegetable diet and distilled water since the last report, with no 
mconvenience, excepting the sense of weakness, and consider- 
able craving for food. She is in all respects improved. 



REMARKS 

On some Cases of Disease which have appeared under the Regimen. 

It is not possible, in my opinion, to devise any other proof with 
reo-ard to the agents which have t\e greatest influence on 
health than that which has been given in the preceding pages. 
I have taken, as it has been seen, examples of diseases ac- 
knowledged to be incurable, when they were presented in such 
a stage as to afibrd any rational prospect of relief, and have 
given the results of experience. To these are added observa- 
tions, accumulated now to a considerable number, in other 
cases, as they have occurred in practice. These may not all of 
them have been of equal weight or importance. It is enough. 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 239 

that they were sufficiently serious to excite the anxiety and 
apprehension of those who were the subjects of them. These 
observations, thus promiscuously taken, concur uniformly in 
corroborating the conclusions drawn from the diseases, avow- 
edly incurable by medicine. They are, therefore, the more 
valuable, as tending to fix the practice, which has been found 
the most beneficial in these last. 

If in these the most sanguine hopes, that might have been 
formed of the eftects of the practice proposed, have not been 
fully realized ; if perfect cures have not been effected, nor the 
body restored to a complete state of health and integrity, it 
will be allowed, it is hoped, that what has been effected is 
neither trifling nor despicable. In cancerous diseases, in par- 
ticular, to have relieved the horrible and excruciating torments 
of the disease ; to have prevented ulceration, with its attendant 
miseries of loathsome, foetid, and excoriating discharges ; to have 
preserved life, and that in such a degree of comfort as to 
enable the patient to enjoy society, and be equal to the com- 
mon duties and occupations of the world ; to have effected so 
much in cases where neither age, nor a completely broken 
constitution, present invincible obstacles to all amendment, is 
surely to have achieved much for suffering humanity ; and 
amply compensates the proposer of this regimen for the anxiety 
and labor in which he has been involved, in consequence, for 
more than ten years ; the obloquy of the ignorant and the mis- 
representations of the malevolent; and, he must add, the 
heavy pecuniary loss which he has been obliged to sustain in 
collecting the evidence which he has been at length enabled 
to lay before the pubhc. 

Such, then, are the benefits which have been really gained ; 
and the evident inferences from these facts will remain un- 
shaken whatever may be the future progress or final issue of 
the cases which have been treated. 

It is neither pretended, nor expected, that a morbid body 
can, by any art, be kept free from the attacks of disease. 
There seems to be in the body, as in vegetation, the seeds of 
future diseases, which continue latent and inactive for a length 
of time ; they then germinate, increase, pass through their 
regular stages, and come to a termination. What is the secret 
condition of the frame, which gives occasion to these pheno- 
mena, we are entirely ignorant. It is placed wholly beyond 
the reach of the senses ; and appears to be without the sphere 
of physical and experimental inquiry. 

It is, however, beyond a doubt, that between that state of 



240 VEGETABLE DIET 

the body, in whicli there is merely a diseased disposition, and 
that consequent state, in which disease becomes active, there 
is a very long, though not a strictly definable interval. Thus 
the breath may begin to fail for three or four years before 
a person falls into a consumption. A change, therefore, 
takes place, certainly in the functions, and probably in the 
structure of the organs of respiration, long before the acces- 
sion of confirmed cough and hectic fever. We see it more 
evidently in the cancer, in which there is pain, perhaps, for 
a series of years, before there is any thickening of the parts, 
as happened in the first of the cases of cancer, which I have 
related in this work. 

Now, the very state of health which persons have, upon the 
whole, enjoyed under the regimen Avhich I have described, 
shows that much of diseased action can, by its use, be super- 
seded. But it has equally appeared that this has only hap- 
pened imperfectly. Not only have the attacks of habitual dis- 
eases been continued or renewed, but some examples even of 
new diseases have taken place, of which there had been no in- 
dication in the former part of life. They have not been nu- 
merous, but it would be inconsistent with my duty, as a faith- 
ful relator of facts, to pass them over in silence. I have thought 
it proper, therefore, in this place, to set down such of these 
occurrences as I have thought most worthy of notice. 

Case I. — I shall first mention a local disease of the cheek, 
which occurred to the subject of the first of the foregoing cases. 
He had been subject to common pimples from the age of eighteen ; 
but these, under the regimen, had been almost entirely sub- 
dued. But in the year 1809, about the beginning of the fourth 
year, some small tumors appeared on the face. They have 
occupied principally the left cheek, and continued for several 
months, red and sore, but without any discharge. They gra- 
dually rose higher upon the skin, then became dry, and peeled 
off in the form of a scab, leaving the parts beneath clear and 
sound. 

When some of these tumors had gone through their course, 
others appeared, and had the same progress ; and as they 
have continued fixing on different spots, even till this present 
time (February, 1815), it is probable that almost every portion 
of the lower part of the cheek has been successively the seat 
of this affection. But when the scab has fallen oft', the skin 
underneath has been left sound, without pitting, or other de- 
formity. 

I believe that the essence of this disease has consisted m a 



IN CnRO?JIC DISEASES. 241 

circumstance, to which I have alluded more than once in the 
course of this work, as often occurring- in the human body, 
namely, that the skin of this cheek was unsound ; that portions 
have perished, been thrown off by the action of the vessels, 
and have been regenerated. Latterly, .though the disease has 
not absolutely ceased, it has very nearly so ; it is at present so 
trifling as hardly to deserve notice, and the parts are more 
sound and healthy both in feeling and appearance than when it 
firsc broke out. 

Case II. — In another of the persons who had used this regi- 
men more than two years, there took place a discharge from 
the urethra, very copious, like a gonorrhoea. There was often 
united with it a considerable irritability of the bladder ; but, 
otherwise, it was not accompanied with pain or inflammation. 
This discharge continued for about three years, and then 
ceased. 

Case III. — I have said many years ago that one of the 
members of my own family, then a boy about eight years of 
age, was of a deeply scrofulous habit (See my Inquiry into the 
Origin, etc., of Constitutional Diseases, p. 61). In the course 
of this investigivtion I have received a strong proof of the cor- 
rectness of this observation, and of the difficulty of completely 
eradicating such a disposition. 

At the end of December, 1811, when he had used this regi- 
men between five and six years, after having been skating dur- 
ing the day, the hand were observed to be stiff and a little 
swelled. On the day following, the face on the right side 
swelled, and the tumefaction increased, extending from the eye 
to the cla\dcle. The seat of the disease appeared to be about 
the middle of the lower maxillary bone. The bone itself be- 
came thickened at this part, and roughened upon its surface. 
Matter came from the part, both internally into the mouth, and 
externally through the cheek. This happened repeatedly, for 
two months, when the ulcerations finally closed, and the parts 
became well. But for a couple of years the bone continued 
thickened, and the skin adherent to the parts underneath. 
After that, the adhesion of the skin was gradually loosened, and 
the parts were restored to their natural structure. But the 
bone continues thickened for near an inch through its whole 
body. 

This was, in fact, a very trifling disease. But it appears to 
have been the germ of one which is the most serious and dis- 
tressing of any which affects the human body — a fixed and 
radical disease of the substance of the bone. 
11 



242 VEGETABLE DIET 

Case IV. — A boy of about ten years of age had lived on 
this regimen about three years. He had enjoyed good health, 
was very stout, but was not without occasional slight indispo- 
sitions, enough to make him lie down for a day or two, but 
hardly to be regularly .confined. About the beginning of the 
year 1811, he had the angina pai'otidoea, or mumps, attended 
with some fever of a low or typhus kind, and this hung upon 
him at least a fortnight. It left behind it a tumor, on the 
right side of the neck, which remained for four or five months. 
It was attended with some shooting pain, by no means severe ; 
but was perfectly hard and incompressible, as large almost as 
an egg, and gradually rose much above the surface. Toward 
the beginning of summer, the apex of the tumor softened, and 
it ulcerated. A good deal of purulent matter came out, the 
skin gradually retracted, and a hard and conical tumor remained 
projecting beyond the skin. From this there was, of course, a 
continued flow of matter ; but besides this, there was a quantity 
of a gritty substance separated, which had been imbedded in 
the body of the tumor. This separation took place repeatedly, 
but at separate intervals, and in consequence the substance of 
the tumor gradually wasted, and was finally reduced to the 
level of the skin. Then the ulcer dried up and cicatrized. This 
whole process took up about a twelvemonth. 

But thouofh the ulcer cicatrized, some thickenino- remained. 
In the course of the summer of 1813, a fresh ulcei'ation took 
place, and a small quantity more of the same matter came out. 
The ulcer this year continued open a month. 

It showed some disposition to break out again the following 
year, 1814. There was, however, no breach of substance, but 
for a single da}^. Since that he has remained quite well. 

This boy showed strongly in his countenance the ameliorat- 
ing eftects of a vegetable regimen. He had before he adopted 
it great fullness about the head, and a sternness, not to say a 
ferocity, of the countenance. After a certain time, the fea- 
tures relaxed, and he gained much more the aspect of good 
humor and benevolence. It cannot be doubted that these 
changes of countenance were the index of corresponding changes 
of the moral disposition. The regimen, however, had been 
persevered in three years before they took place decidedly. 

Another example has occurred of a pretty severe aftection 
of the chest, in a lady who had used the regimen more than 
four years. And I should think it proper to notice it more 
particularly, except that it cannot be said at this present time 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 243 

(March, 1815) to have completely subsided. I shall say only, 
therefore, that it was a peripneumony, designated by its com- 
mon symptoms of pain in the chest, cough, and expectoi'ations. 

Such are some of the principal examples of disease under 
this regimen which have occurred to myself, in addition to those 
I have noticed in the general course of my narration. Others 
of smaller consequence, as slight cough, colds, pains of the face 
or limbs which have been observed, I omit as not deserving of 
a distinct relation. 

It is very obvious to the most superficial consideration that 
these occurrences have not been the consequences of the regi- 
men, and therefore can form no solid objection against it. They 
have in truth been, not in consequence, but in spite of it. 
Some of them were clearly natural processes. Thus the glandu- 
lar tumor, which has been last described, was a process for 
bringing the concreted matter, which was finally evacuated, to 
the surface of the body. It may then be suspected that the 
other examples were natural processes likewise, though the 
fact is not so obvious. At all events they were not diseases of 
debility, which is apprehended from vegetable regimen ; but 
were inflammatory diseases, such as would be judged to require 
depletion rather than stimulation. They form then, I repeat, 
no objection to the regimen. 

It will follow, evidently, from the whole course of my narra- 
tion, that for the most part the use of this regimen affords no 
hope nor prospect of great relief from deep constitutional dis- 
ease in a very short time. To jump from a state of disease to 
a state of health is contrary to the laws of nature. Those who 
hold out prospects of this kind can have no other object than 
to impose upon the credulity of mankind. 

Those who think fit to undertake it should be well aware of 
its aim and intent. This is not so much to obtain perfect and 
uninterrupted health (objects, perhaps, hardly consistent with 
our present condition), as an alleviation of suffering, and to pass 
through the years that are allotted to us with the least possible 
evil. These are objects which every reasonable person will 
acknowledge to be the most important of all temporary and 
sublunary concerns. 

The observation of a regular system of dieting, such as I have 
described, fulfills this object by radically strengthening the pow- 
ers of life. It has no control, or at least a very imperfect one, 
over the immediate symptoms of disease. The general habits 
of the system therefore remain in a great degree unaltered. 
But slowly and gradually the constitution becomes changed, at 



344 VEGETABLE DIET 

least in its powers, if not in its primordial structure. The pow- 
ers inherent in the system to preserve the life of the body, to 
overcome the operation of agencies tending to destroy the body, 
or to derange healthy action, and to restore parts which are 
defective either in their organization or power, are strengthened 
and invigorated. 

This doctrine, no doubt, will never be acknowledged by those 
persons who are under the influence of the common prejudice, 
that vegetable diet has a natural tendency to produce weakness. 
The facts which appear to favor this notion are so strong, and 
the assertion is so confidently made by a multitude of observers, 
who have had neither object nor interest in making false repre- 
sentations, that I despair of being able to eradicate it from the 
minds of hasty, superficial, and prejudiced inquirers. But those 
who will calmly and dispassionately weigh the facts which I 
have advanced, will, I have no doubt, acknowledge that I have 
traced the sense and appearance of weakness to its proper 
source, the agency of foreign matter upon the S3"stem ; and 
that the accusations brought against the vegetable regimen are 
in this respect groundless. Remove these noxious agencies, and 
then the true operation of the vegetable regimen, in fadically 
strengthening the vital powers, becomes obvious. But to pro- 
duce a very great change in the habits of the constitution must 
be the work of time, and even of a great length of time. This 
must be the effect of the patience, not of weeks, nor of months, 
but of years. There must, too, be a natural limit to the change 
which it is possible to effect. This limit it is impossible to de- 
fine, independent of experience ; and it will, of course, be dif- 
ferent in each different constitution. 

It may be thought that the examples which I have given of 
the pertinacity of diseased symptoms are extremely discouraging, 
and hold out a melanchol}^ prospect to those who are great 
sufferers, I suspect that the great sufferers will not be of this 
opinion ; but that, for the most part, they Avill be contented to 
put up with small evils, if they can escape the great. How- 
ever, with all men, the first and greatest object in life is to in- 
form the reason. Let them, then, well consider how slowly 
disease itself is engendered ; and, therefore, how unreasonable 
it is to suppose that it can be quickly eradicated. 

To illustrate this point, let us take a very common example. 
If any disease is acknowledged to be artificial, it is the gout. 
A man then has his first fit of gout, we will say, at forty ; he 
has repeated regular paroxysms, it may be for twenty, or five- 
and-twenty years ; then, perhaps, the seat of the diseased action 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 245 

becomes changed ; the gout begins to desert the limbs ; the 
head becomes affected with apoplexy or palsy ; the lungs with 
cough, dyspnoea, or pneumonia ; the stomach with spasms, sick- 
ness, vomiting, or diarrhoea ; and, after suffering a few years 
more, he at length dies. 

Now here we see that, for a certain number of years, this 
person enjoyed health, though under the influence of powerful 
morbific causes ; for a certain number of years more, the causes 
continuing to act, a new train of phenomena are produced, which 
we call gout ; and, finally, the powers of life decUning, a third 
series of morbid actions is established, seated in the internal 
organs. 

We must acknowledge, then, the body to be under a constant 
force, which must impress and modify it at every period of its 
existence ; but that the phenomena of diseases depend not wholly 
on the action of these forces, but on the state of the system in 
conjunction with them. The system itself is in a constant state 
of mutation ; so that the effects of agents at one period of its 
existence is dissimilar to the effect of the very same agents at a 
former or succeeding period. 

Now as these agents have, for the most part, been applied 
during the whole of life, how^ utterly unreasonable must it be to 
expect that great changes can be produced speedily by the 
raere cessation of their action. Surely we ought rather to 
expect, even a j^riori, that the restoration to health will be ana- 
logous to the formation of disease ; that the amendment will be 
by degrees almost insensible at short intervals of time ; and that 
many must content themselves with an alleviation of suffering 
rather than a perfect restoration to health. And when we con- 
sider the enormous load of misery under which some of our un- 
fortunate fellow -creatures are oppressed, who labor under some 
of the forms of chronic disease, this prospect must be allowed 
tc be most consolatory to suffering humanity. 

I may mention here, incidentally, that under the theory which 
I have chalked out, the diseases which prove fatal can rarely 
be considered to be strictly local. I know that almost all medi- 
cal theorists espouse an opposite opinion. They dissect the 
dead body ; such and such, say they, were the appearances 
after death ; here then was the seat of the disease, every other 
part of the body was sound and uninjured. But let it be con- 
sidered that a part, whose organization is perfect to-day, to- 
morrow perhaps mortifies. The powers of any part of the body 
then may be lost, though the structure is uninjured; and, there- 
fore, the parts of the body, in which no diseased action has 



246 VEGETABLE DIET 

taken place, may be inherently as much diseased as those the 
texture of which is obviously changed. They might then have 
taken on diseased action, if it had not been suspended either by 
the existing disease, or prevented by the death and dissolution 
of the body. 

These considerations show that dissection can never com- 
pletely unravel the phenomena of disease. By dissection we 
can discover only the final changes of composition, which the 
bod}^ undergoes. But disease is a change of the powers and 
actions of the living parts ; that is to say, of parts of which, 
for the most part, the organization continues perfect. 

If then disease be seated in and pervade the whole body, it 
must be counteracted by measures which affect and pervade 
the whole body likewise. Now the whole series of observations 
which have been made on the system of dieting recommended 
in the preceding pages, evinces that it affects the whole frame, 
every organ, and every fibre of the body. 

As a whole, the body under it attains its just stature, due 
proportions, and proper strength, provided there be no original 
defect of structure. In consequence, all artificial defects of 
structure are tending to disappear under it. The skin appears 
to become more firm and dense. The hand and foot in par- 
ticular become harder, less white and doughy, but perhaps 
more fleshy. The pungent heat of the palms of the hands 
and soles of the feet, with which many are tormented, dis- 
appears. The whole surface of the body commonly becomes 
cooler ; but the temperature of the body, as indicated by the 
thermometer under the tongue, is the same as under common 
regimen. 

The hair grows with much greater luxuriance and rapidity. 
In some in whom it was dry like hay, it regained a due soft- 
ness and moisture. In others the disposition of the hair to fall 
off has been removed. Premature grayness appears to be pre- 
vented. 

All the secretions are promoted, and re-established where 
they had been checked. Hence, the skin becomes moist and 
perspirable ; the mucous discharges from the nostrils and the 
trachea become more copious. On the same principle, the 
bowels become regular in their action. The urine is ex- 
tremely copious and commonly clear. The saliva loses all vis- 
cidity and clamminess, and on this account much uncomfort- 
able feeling in the mouth and fauces are removed. The teeth 
become sound and clean, the gums firm, and strongly attached 
to the teeth and alveolar processes. The tongue likewise grad- 



IN CHRONIC DlSEAr^E.?. 247 

ually becomes dh^ested of its foul covering, and becomes moist 
and clean. 

Though the regular perspiration be re-established, there is 
much less profuse sweating. Several of the young persons 
who have lived in this manner, have been observed playing in 
the open air in the heat of summer, or dancing in a warm 
room, unaffected and cool, while their companions were bathed 
in sweat. 

Not only are the secretions more copious, but they are ren- 
dered much less offensive. The eructations from the stomach, 
and flatus from the bowels, are relatively inoffensive ; and the 
faeces themselves become less disagreeable,"* of their proper 
color, and healthy consistency. 

Doubtless the whole composition of the circulating fluids is 
changed, but it is not possible, perhaps, to prove this chemi- 
cally. But the whole body acquires a cleaner and a fresher 
appearance. The muddiness of the complexion vanishes. The 
sclerotic coat of the eye gives the strongest evidence of this 
change. From having been yellow and dull, it regains the 
pure and clear whiteness which is natural to it. 

The body becomes more tolerant of heat, of cold, and of all 
the mutations of the atmosphere. Such impressions lose their 
power of injury ; and the perpetual attention to guard our- 
selves against them becomes needless. In consequence, a 
lighter system of clothing may be adopted. 

All the senses acquire a higher degree of perfection : the 
eye, the ear, the palate, the skin. The countenance becomes 
more animated and intellectual. The smile which plays upon 
the features shows the inward contentment of the heart. 
There can be no doubt that the apprehension, the memory, 
in a word, all the faculties which constitute the intellect, are 
improved. 

The muscles acquire both flexibility and power ; the move- 
ments of the body are performed, therefore, with greater ease 
and freedom. f With the power of motion, the love of exercise 

* I tiave observed that when recent vegetable matter, unchanged by 
cookery, has been abundantly used, the faeces have acquired very much 
the smell of horse dung. 

t I here suppose that there has been no great disease upon any of the 
vital organs ; for in that case it has been observed, that the muscles have 
sometimes been affected w^itha sort of rheumatic stiffness, in consequence, 
probably, of disease being transferred to these parts. Having remarked 
this in two or three members of my own family, I must suppose that it 
will happen very often. 



248 VEGETABLE DIET 

increases. Phe joints become better knit, and the body tends 
constantly to preserve its upright forna. 

Heaviness and drowsiness is dissipated. The sleep be- 
comes lighter, sounder, more refreshing, and less interrupted 
by dreams. Upon the whole, the body seems to require less 
sleep. 

The appetite for food becomes sound, strong, and healthy. 
There is no oppression or flatulency after meals ; no fullness 
nor heaviness ; no sense of satiety, disgust, or nausea. The 
pleasures of the palate are heightened by the increased delicacy 
of the organs ; and the enjoyment produced by the free and 
unrestricted use of fruit more than compensates for the re- 
straints thought to be imposed by the abstinence from stimulat- 
ing viands. The nutrition of the body is likewise perfect. 
Many, undoubtedly, lose flesh ; but this is not because vegetable 
diet aftbrds an imperfect nutrition, but either from disease, or 
from the mere change of habit. Healthy subjects on this diet 
become full of flesh, and even fat. 

These phenomena mostly indicate an increased sensibility of 
the whole frame. Perhaps there is no single nor infallible cri- 
terion of augmented vital powers. Probably, however, a more 
full and free respiration, and what is the consequence of this, an 
expanded chest, may afford the strongest indication on this 
point. Of this expansion of the chest, under this regimen, there 
have been several examples. To this is joined a slower, more 
full, and regular puke ; the pulsations of the heart and arteries 
are performed with diminished velocity, but Avith increased full- 
ness and force. But in saying this, I speak only relatively of 
each individual. For in the absolute number of the pulsations 
of the arteries there is the same variety as in those who live on 
a mixed diet. In some the pulse is quick, in others slow, accord- 
ing to the original differences of the constitution. 

This description, which has been taken from observations on 
many subjects, who have conformed to the rules laid down in 
this treatise, will, of course, apply to different subjects with 
different degrees of correctness. There may be obstacles in 
the state pf the constitution which may oppose every attempt 
at restoration. The inherent powers of the body may be so far 
impaired, that it may be impossible to prevent even the disso- 
lution of the frame. Age is the circumstance which, of all 
others, forms the greatest obstacle to all attempts at relief ; and 
this is so powerful, that even under a mild disease, or no dis- 
ease at all, I should be unwilling to recommend any change of 
habits which were ungrateful to the feelings. But at no period. 



IN CHRONIC DISEASES. 249 

not even in the first stages of existence, if the powers of life are 
greatly sunk, is it possible to restore them; the principle of 
conservation may be, by care, cherished and prolonged for a 
short time ; but it will then sink and be finally extinguished. 

These facts prove no more than the importance of prudence 
and foresight in the conduct of life, I cannot, therefore, too 
earnestly impress the necessity of attempting to extinguish, as 
far as it is possible, the germ and embryo of future disease. 
To distinguish the signs of distant mischief is often in the power 
more of the enlightened paren^,, guardian, or friend than of the 
regular professional adviser. I consign, therefore, these my 
labors to the reflections of the discerning and benevolent few. 
To the mass of mankind, absorbed in selfish pursuits, or strug- 
gling to ward off poverty, I expect them to remain unknown, 
or if known, to be ungrateful. But I hope they will meet with 
a better fate in the domestic circle of retired persons, whose 
rule of life is to practice what is fundamentally right ; to do their 
duty to themselves, to their relatives, to their fellow-creatures, 
and so to obtain the approbation of their own consciences, and 
the favor of the great Author of their being. If among these 
respectable circles it disseminates the knowledge of great prac- 
tical truths, and produce the proper fruits of knowledge — more 
just principles, mo;e rational manners, and an increase of solid 
comfort, my end will be fully answered. 



a^/ 



APPENDIX 



VEGETABLE DIET IN WHITESTOWN SEMINARY, 
NEAR UTICA, NEW YORK. 

Many people suppose that obtaining an education is necessarily 
attended witli much expense, and that consequently none but 
the richer classes can be benefited by it. This is, however, a 
mistake. Almost any person may, by adopting a plain vege- » 
table diet, attend school as long as desirable, with but very little 
pecuniary means ; and in so doing he will enjoy better health, 
and accomplish more within a given time than those who adopt 
an opposite course. 

At Whitestown Seminary, near Utica, N. Y., a considerable 
number of students obtain their education on the above plan. 
I spent a year at that place, commencing with the winter term 
in the month of December, 1847. There were from 150 to 
200 students there, of both sexes, and from all parts of the 
United States. 

The inmates had the privilege of either boarding in the board- 
ing-house kept in one of the buildings, or of furnishing their 
own food in their separate rooms. The larger number chose 
the latter plan. The price for board in the boarding-house was 
$1 25 per week for those who drank tea and coffee, and $1 for 
those who took only water. The food furnished was very good, 
though plain. Flesh meat was given, I believe, once a day. 
The number w^ho drank tea and coffee was very small, the most ' 
either caring nothing about it, or wishing to save the twenty- 
five cents a week. 

On an average it cost those who boarded themselves about 
fifty cents per week, though some lived for considerable less. 
They would use bakers' bread, crackers, apples, and the hke, 
and roasted potatoes, and such cakes and other articles as they 
could cook themselves on the stove top, in an oven attached to 
the pipe. Tea and coffee were never used, I believe, and meat , 
very seldom. It was found to be very unpleasant cooking, and 
working with it, and disagreeable to have it in the rooms, which 



252 APPENDIX. 

were small ; and others from experience had found they were 
better without animal food. 

There were a few, however, who did not live far off, that 
brought their provisions from home — flesli meat, butter, cakes, 
pies, and rich food generally, such as is used by farmers in that 
fertile countr3^ It was evident that among these there was 
more dullness, more illness and complaining, than among all 
the rest put together. 

Many at the beginning of the term, for the saving of time 
and trouble, would live altogether on such articles as they could 
get at the bakers and stores, which were of course generally 
of the finer kinds, for coarse bread and crackers could not be 
had. But before a long time they Avould grow tired of these 
fine things, much sooner than those who partook of the plainer 
articles of their own cooking, and they would then resort to the 
latter plan. 

Fine flour was found much more difficult to make into eatable 
articles, by unexperienced cooks, than the coarser kinds of 
meal, so it was but little used, and the students never felt as 
well after eating it. Corn meal was the easiest to prepare, and 
was the most used ; and a person would live longer on it, made 
into different kinds of cakes and puddings, than upon any other 
one thing without becoming tired of it ; it was also the cheapest 
article to be found on which a person could subsist. 

Butter, molasses, sugar, and other sweets were generally used 
to a moderate extent, but they were sometimes even omitted. 
It was found that the less variety they had, and the longer they 
lived on a few plain, simple articles, the less desire there was 
to eat too much ; and nothing could be eaten with a greater 
relish than when the fewest articles were taken at a time. 

A few of us, for the sake of trying an experiment, lived for 
several weeks on simple Indian corn cake, of our own bak- 
ing, without butter or salt. We found in so doing that there 
. was no part of the time in which we felt as well, or could study 
more than during this experiment. There was no time that v/e 
• ate with a better relish, and had less desire for rich food. It 
cost about eio'hteen cents a week. 

Although most of the students would usually study a great 
deal by candle-light — all the time at night except what was 
absolutely necessary for sleep — sore and weak eyes were nearly 
or altogether unknown. Weak eyes is a very common com- 
plaint in some schools, where the students live in a different 
manner in regard to diet. Although the chmate was severe, 
colds, I think, were not so common as in most other places. 



APPENDIX. 253 

The cure for many, when they got a cold, was to lessen the 
quantity of food and bathe more in cold water, and it was not ^ 
long that a cold could withstand the effects of abstemiousness 
and water- treatment. 

In the winter season many got into the habit of taking but 
very little exercise. Some perhaps would not walk half a 
mile a day on an average, and take no other exercise, and yet 
all appeared to go on well enough, certainly much better than 
with people generally who take so little exercise. The cause 
of this must have been, I think, the mode of living adopted. 

In the summer season most of the students worked habit- 1 
ually three or four hours each day for exercise. Gardening t 
and other farm work of the kind could always be obtained at 
a short distance from the seminary, in the summer season. The • 
pay was from six to eight cents an hour. By working this way 
during the odd hours and holidays, many were able to clear all 
their expenses, attend school a year or two, and then leave 
with as much money as they brought with them. They felt bet- » 
ter, and could study more, than those who did not v/ork. 

In the summer term there were two or three who, from an 
excess of vanity, would not labor Avith their hands at all. And 
they would neither board themselves, nor board in the boarding- 
house where good plain food only was furnished, but went to 
a private house in the village. There they paid nearly double 
price, so that they could get a greater variety of rich food and 
luxuries. They were about as different in other respects from 
the rest as in their manner of living. When the seven o'clock 
beP rung for breakfast it was as common a time for them to get 
up as any. In the first place, then, they would loose three 
hours of the best part of the day for both exercise and study 
(for the students generally rose at four in the summer) ; and 
then go right to their breakfast, they would be far from feeling 
as fresh and brisk as those who rose early, and worked and 
exercised two or three hours before the morning meal. It was 
a general remark, and a true one, that these would-be-gentlemen 
studied but little, and learned nothing. One of them came to 
stay two or three years, he said, but soon complained of head- 
ache, or something else, all the time he was there, so that he 
could not study. He left in a short time. Those who worked 
a part of the day, and studied the rest, always slept well when ' 
night came, and be ready to get up in the morning. Those lazy\ 
flesh-eaters complained that they could not sleep well in the\ 
night, and then would remain in bed dozing all the morning. 
But the plain liv^ers, who practiced iyi ng in bed no longer than 



254 APPENDIX. 

was necessary for sleep, and working and studying alternately 
through the day, got along well in all respects. The time was 
all well employed, which is no small matter to one who wishes 
to make all the improvement possible. 

Straw beds were used by many of the students, and were 
found to be far superior to feathers in warm weather by all who 
tried them. 

The doctors found but little to do in the seminary, hardly 
enough to support a church mouse. 

The students were most of them a considerable distance from 
home, and when they got unwell they would discontinue study- 
ing, eat moderately of vegetable fare, walk in the open air, and 
thus get cured. This letting -alone-plan was believed to be 
much better than the drugging system. To sum up the matter, 
those who rose early, worked and exercised a good deal, and 
lived on plain vegetable food, learned much more, and felt a 
great deal better than those who lived in an opposite way ; and 
the former could quite, or nearly, clear their expenses, while the 
latter were at a considerable expense, and learned less. 

I have thus far spoken of the young men. Concerning the 
young ladies I knew less ; but almost all of them boarded them- 
selves, cooked their own food, performed their own washing, 
kept their rooms in order, and walked frequently in the open 
air. They appeared very healthy, and I seldom heard of any 
of them getting ill. 

Those who, in obtaining an education, will take a course 
similar to that which I have described, will find that the time 
thus spent will ever afterward be looked upon as one of the 
most profitable and happy of their whole lives. 

If such a plan were more generally adopted by those who 
must either go to school cheaply, or not at all, there would not 
be so many people as there now are without a good education. 
Since such a plan is so pleasant and easy, the want of money 
is no excuse for any one who has health for not attending 
school. 

C. Hambleton. 

P. S. — The Whitestown Seminary was formerly a manual 
labor school, under the able presidentship of the Rev. Beriah 
Green, who is himself an advocate of vegetable diet. The 
students were then required to work a portion of each day ; 
and it is a good deal owing to this, I suppose, that the students 
still keep up the habit since it was changed from that to the 
present form. Besides, President Green is in the habit of giv- 



APPENDIX. 255 

ing lectures in the village, and sometimes at the seminary, on 
the subject of health, and the necessity of labor, exercise, and 
attention to diet, in order to preserve it. 

C. H. 



CASE OF JOHN BURDELL, DENTIST, OF NEW YORK. 

Mr. Burdell is now forty-four years of age. He was from 
Oneida County, State of New York. He has resided in this 
city twenty-two years, before that time always in the country. 
His parents lived a number of miles distant from neighbors, in 
a wild part of the country, and the occupation of the male 
members of the family was clearing of land, farming, and agri- 
cultural pursuits generally. His parents were comparatively 
healthy. On his father's side they predisposed to paralysis ; 
his mother died of apoplexy. Mr. Burdell ate plentifully of 
flesh meat, as was customary in those times, but the bread eaten 
was mostly of the coarser forms until his coming to the city. 

He was always rather delicate in loealth ; had frequent sick 
headache with nausea ; was habitually costive ; and often had 
nightmare. The first that he ever went to school was when 
he was sixteen years old. 

Mr. Burdell has now been engaged in dentistry twenty years. 
He lived about two j'^ears as people ordinarily do, and then 
commenced the " vegetarian system," using, however, a little 
milk and flesh for about one year. He has not eaten flesh 
more than three weeks in all since that time, now a period of 
eighteen years. He has used milk he judges not more than 
one year in the aggregate sinie that time, and then only in a 
shght quantity at intervals. 

On commencing the new diet he could perceive that his 
mind gradually became more clear. Sleep grew better; and 
his streno^th of mind he reg-ards remained about the same. 
Headache appeared to disappear just in proportion as animal 
substances were given up ; and he has not experienced this 
aff"ection in a single instance, now several years. Constipation, 
from which he had suff"ered from a child, became very soon 
removed. Bodily strength was not materially changed. He 
can now, he judges, bear more exercise of any kind to which 
he is accustomed than ever before in his life. He has for years 
known no such sensation as fatigue ; and yet his occupation 



256 APPENDIX. 

when ardently pursued, as in bis case, is a very fatiguing one, 
particularly for the arms, extremities, and head. 

He has lived principally in the city of New York during the 
twenty years before-mentioned. Once, however, he was absent 
about five months on a voyage to St. Croix. Nearly all the 
persons who went to this island at the time were attacked with 
the common fever of the place ; numbers also died. But Mr. 
Burdell, however, experienced no attack whatever. He was 
the only vegetarian he knew of on the vessel. Once also he 
made a trip of some three months to New Orleans, and the 
southern states generally. He also saw more or less sickness 
at this time, but experienced none himself. During both of 
these trips he lived on bread, rice, potatoes, and fruits, without 
butter or milk. 

During the whole eighteen years, Mr. Burdell has practiced 
washing daily in cold water. This rule has been as constant 
as that of going to rest. His drink has been only Avater, and 
that rarely, as his free use of fruits has supplied the necessary 
amount of liquid to his system. He has repeatedly passed six 
months at a time without tasting fluid. He has never tasted 
either tea or coffee, or any hot drinks whatever, since the time 
of commencing the vegetarian experiments. He has also made 
it a rule, when possible, to sleep on a hard bed with a hard pil- 
low. He has generally retired to rest at nine o'clock and rose 
at six, making nearly nine hours sleep. He has alwaj^s walked 
more or less daily in the open air ; but he regards that if he 
could have had much more exercise than his occupation would 
admit of, he would have been better off. 

About eight years since, Mr. Burdell after having spent some 
months in unpleasant mental excitement, and ate, as he now 
believes, too many sour apples, he was attacked in the month 
of April with diarrhoea, the first he ever had after commencing 
his new regimen. Regarding homeopathic practice the safest 
that he knew of at that time, and having a particular friend, a 
homeopathic physician, in whom he confided, he consented to 
have him prescribe, on the condition, however, that no calomel 
or mineral poisons of whatever kind should be administered. 
The physician, however, believing, doubtless, that it was his 
duty to deceive him, administered both calomel and arsenic, 
and that in no very small quantities. Moreover, he has reason 
to believe that he was over-drugged by an evil-minded person 
whose duty it was a part of the time to act as nurse. At all 
events the complaint became much worse, and severe dysentery 
set in. This continued for more than a month, and he says 



APPENDIX. 257 

that the smell coming from his body was as bad as that of rats 
poisoned with arsenic. As soon as he found that he had been 
taking calomel and arsenic, he dismissed the practitioner, and 
declared he would take no more of his medicine. All of the 
extremities became nearly powerless, as is common from the 
effects of arsenic. It was more than a year before they fully 
regained their power. It was at the time of this illness that 
he was persuaded to break a little over the rules to which he 
had been accustomed. He continued to use a little beef-steak 
about two weeks, but became so nauseated and disgusted with 
the flesh that he resolved never to eat of it again. On discon- 
tinuing its use he grew better. And substituting for it Indian 
meal gruel, bread, and the free use of fruits, he grew rapidly 
better in every respect, except the extremities. It was toward 
two years before his limbs regained their full vigor. 

Since the above illness, our subject has taken but two meals 
a day, morning and evening, never touching food of any kind 
between meals. Having experimentally ascertained the quan- 
tity of nutriment required by him, he weighs or measures ac- 
cording to their quality the amount for each meal, so as to be 
uniform in the quantity taken. His food consists in summer 
wholly of unholded wheat bread, and fruits of all kinds as they 
successively appear throughout the season. He regards the 
indigenous as the best. In winter his table supply is made up 
with farinaceous, and baked potatoes and apples. 

Previously to commencing the vegetarian experiments and 
bathing, Mr. Burdell was every winter subject to colds ; some 
of which were very severe upon the lungs. He repeatedly 
experienced pulmonary hemorrhage. He has seldom been 
troubled with symptoms of the kind since. He thinks taking 
too much food, even of the simplest kinds, has in some instances 
caused him to raise streaks of blood. 

His daily aliment consists now (September, 1849) of brown 
wheaten bread sometimes leavened and sometimes unleavened, 
and peaches. He uses no butter, salt, nor spices of any 
description. He takes no alcoholic or fermented liquors, no 
coffee or tea, and does not now recollect when he last took 
milk or even water, the juices of the fruits meeting and satisfy- 
ing the demand which is naturally much diminished by the 
total absence of animal food, salt, and spices, with the febrile 
excitement they serve to produce. He not only bathes in cold 
water regularly every morning throughout the year, but sleeps 
with open windows summer and winter. He has passed most 
of the days during the present sickly season in the city. Dur- 



258 ArPKMHX. 

ing the three cholera seasons of *32, '34, and '49, he passed on 
■unharmed. It is many years since he has taken the slightest 
cold, or experienced the least nausea, headache, disorder of 
the bowels, or indisposition of any kind ; and for the last seven 
years has not omitted a single meal, " He seems," says a 
friend, " in perfect health, with skin clear and mildly suffused 
with a natural tinge in the place of the bloated flush of drunk- 
enness and gluttony ; mind unclouded and active ; spirits gentle 
and cheerful ; and conversation fluent, easy, and instructive. 
Altogether he appears a very happy man. His wants, with his 
mode of hfe, are few, and require very moderate ends to meet 
them ; these are obtained by industry in the prosecution of his 
professional pursuits. Much may be learned from this case, 
and the inference will naturally arise that much sickness, with 
its attendant calamities, is superinduced among mankind by 
unintelligent and beast-like indulgence in improper and perni- 
cious articles of food and drink." 



THE SKD. 



JUH 23 1946 



